With the 2024/25 season about to kick off, Wolves will have a highly anticipated home opener against London rivals Chelsea. For Brazilian striker Cunha, the game will not only be the first test of the new season, but also the stage for him to compete with old rivals Chelsea once again.
Looking back at last season, Cunha played a key role in Wolves' double over Chelsea, and his outstanding performance certainly injected strong confidence into the team. However, Cunha knows that there are no eternal winners in the world of soccer and that every game is a new challenge. He emphasized, "It's important to remember those moments from the past, but the weekend is a new game. We are very confident, we did the double over them last season, but Chelsea are not the same team now and we have some different players. So we need to be consistent and go all out to win."
Cunha was cautious as to whether the past record could give the Wolves an edge. He said, "Honestly, the past doesn't matter in the present. Every game is a new challenge and we need to start from zero. But we do have confidence because we have beaten them twice. However, Chelsea are a strong club with a lot of good players and they are equally likely to beat us. Therefore, we need to be very focused and strictly execute the tactical arrangements in training and hopefully we can win again."
Cunha showed his generosity and blessings when talking about his old teammate Pedro Neto, who he will be facing soon. He said, "I have good wishes for anyone who moves on and I will support Neto for the rest of my life and wish him all the best. Except, of course, against us this Sunday. I want us to show better form but I also want him to do well, I just don't want him to score against us! I hope we can win this game with a better performance."
Finally, when asked about the place of the hat-trick at Stamford Bridge in his career, Cunha had no hesitation in recognizing it as one of the high points of his club career. He revealed, "I won the Olympics with Brazil and scored in the final, which was undoubtedly the most memorable game of my career. But the hat-trick at Stamford Bridge also holds a very important place in my heart, and it ranks as the second best game of my career. Of course, that's mainly because my love for my country makes that game even more special, but at club level, that hat-trick definitely comes first."
