César Azpilicueta’s year started with him winning the World Cup and could end with him winning the World Cup, too. “And in the middle,” he says, “everything happened.” The Spain defender is laughing but he hasn’t always over the past 11 months. The way he describes 2022, his 16th year in elite football and the most surreal, difficult and potentially successful, everything really does sound like everything. “It feels like three years and we’re still in December. We started as world champions with Chelsea, the only [club] title I didn’t have. Then: the war, the sanctions, the personal situation …”
And now the World Cup again, this time with his country: a series of meetings with friends and the hope of the perfect close to the longest year. That’s what he wants, and also what he has gone for in the Spanish players’ predictions league. Azpilicueta settles into a chair in at their university training base on the eve of the last-16 tie with Morocco. There is a lot to get through so let’s start in the middle. With the moments when it started to fall apart, Azpilicueta not just unsure whether he would stay at Chelsea but whether there would be a Chelsea to stay at.
Two weeks after winning the Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Roman Abramovich announced that he was handing over control of the club. By mid-March, his assets had been frozen and spending limits imposed, doubts appearing about Chelsea’s capacity to continue. Buyers were sought, a sale eventually secured in May. New owners with new ideas, not tied to what had been decided before – including promises over Azpilicueta’s future. Which is why the captain remains one of the few constants.
“It’s hard, a situation we hadn’t lived before: we changed owners, manager, some of the medical staff …” Azpilicueta begins, describing a void into which the players stepped, taking responsibility and reaching into their pockets: someone had to put petrol in the team bus. He grins at the idea of him standing on the forecourt, nozzle in hand. “Not everything said is true,” he says, but him paying for fuel is one of those stories that is. “Look, many people leant a hand, not just me: staff, people with a passion for the club, who helped in difficult moments. We did what we had to.
“There were some things we did have to pay for among us. Players, staff, and employees never had any problems in terms of getting paid, but there were things we helped with. That’s where you really see people, who they are. Being captain isn’t only about the lovely moments when you lift the trophy but being there in hard times, too. It’s not about your personal situation, but the people around you. And where you feel fulfilled is when those people say: ‘Thanks.’”
For Azpilicueta, there was an added layer, in the final year of his contract and contemplating a return to Spain after 12 years away, a decade in London. There were family reasons to head back as well as football ones. Chelsea initially offered a single-year extension; Barcelona offered a longer, more secure deal and Xavi Hernández was insistent. According to his contract, Azpilicueta renewed automatically at Stamford Bridge if he played 30 games, but had been promised he would not be held to that: he had earned the right to choose. The change of administration, though, meant those assurances no longer applied.
“I had an unusual situation, because I’d never been in the final year of my contract before. I had the 30-game clause. The club was frozen. We didn’t know who was coming, if they would want me. Everything had changed. What I could do was what I had always done since arriving in 2012: give commitment. The club is my home, I’m the captain. What I could do was be available, play as much as I could.”
That proved decisive. Azpilicueta gave himself no way out just as he had decided it was time to head home; commitment counted against him. Antonio Rüdiger went to Madrid, Andreas Christensen and Marcos Alonso joined Barcelona. Many players would discover a convenient injury. Some would stop at 29, refuse. “Yes,” he says softly. So why didn’t you? “I couldn’t. I wouldn’t have been comfortable. That’s not me.” But it rebounds on you. “Well, that’s life. I couldn’t do something like that, it didn’t fit. I’ve always been honest, committed: not just in words but in deeds.
“I had that clause and the extra year was maybe worse conditions than elsewhere. But that wouldn’t have made me happy. Happiness for me is being there in the hard moments at Chelsea, something we had never, ever experienced before. Those months were a strange situation. The new owners came, trusted in me, saw me as an important part of the new project. I decided to stay. I’m very happy.
“It’s my home. I’m Spanish of course, but my daughters were born there. When we went to Marseille years ago, it was just me and my wife; now there are three kids. We’re delighted there. People at my kids’ school, my wife’s friends, those you see daily, people at the club, are happy you’re still with them. That gives you satisfaction.”
If the captain stayed, the coach was soon gone. Now there are suggestions that Thomas Tuchel is a candidate for the Germany job. “We spent 18 months working together and I learned loads,” Azpilicueta says. “He had a tremendous impact: European champions in four months, the Super Cup, the Club World Cup. He trusted in me when I wasn’t playing much with the previous coach. I had the best months of my career, returned to the national team, went to the Euros.”
When Azpilicueta played in Spain’s 5-0 win against Slovakia at Euro 2020 in June 2021, it was his first game for the selección since 2018. Now, he is at his third World Cup, even if it almost ended early. Withdrawn with a knock that will not prevent him facing Morocco, he watched Japan come back to win 2-1. For a few minutes in the second half, Spain were out – “there were a lot of nerves,” Azpilicueta says – but Kai Havertz led Germany’s response against Costa Rica, rescuing Spain and sending them through to play Morocco. Time to say thanks, then?
“I spoke to Kai,” Azpilicueta says. “We have a great relationship. There’s not much you can say: that you’ve been through it, you know it’s hard and hopefully he has another chance in four years.”
There was relief but Spain’s passage didn’t wash away the pessimism, given their defeat – and the nature of it. “I understand it’s hard for fans to be optimistic after that, but on the inside it’s different. You have to keep that balance: winning 7-0 doesn’t mean you’ll win the World Cup and losing doesn’t mean its over. Now it’s do or die.”
If they do die, it will be their way, although Azpilicueta advises against slipping into easy cliche as debate begins over whether Spain have to change having apparently been victims of their style. Takefusa Kubo said the Japanese took advantage of Spain’s refusal to just “boot the fucking thing”.
“Sometimes you have to,” Azpilicueta says. “But the manager is the first to tell us to whack it if we have to. It’s not like we’re there dribbling around, doing things we shouldn’t. There’s a clear philosophy [but] for a reason, not just playing. It’s the culture we’ve had since I joined the national [youth] team at 15, a way of being the best we can. I watch videos, learn spaces. It’s a calculated risk. We do it with an objective.
“Morocco are very difficult to create chances against. Clear ideas, strong up front, quality in midfield, full-backs who are offensive, with ability. They got seven points in the group; no one got more and not many got seven [only the Netherlands and England]. They only let in one goal and allowed five shots, beat Belgium, drew with Croatia. And they have Hakim Ziyech, who has a left foot of incredible quality. He’s in a great moment, confident. We’ll have to ensure he’s in the game as little as possible.”
Azpilicueta hasn’t spoken to him. Maybe after, a second clubmate to console? “Let’s hope so,” he laughs. It could become a habit. Mason Mount next? “That would be good.” Another laugh. “He’s a fantastic player. England have so many good players, an infinite range of choices.”
And so here he is, back where it all began. It was at the ground where Spain played their last game, the Khalifa Stadium, that Azpilicueta played his first for the national team in 2013.
“Only Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba are left,” he says. “I shared a dressing room with the generation that won two Euros and a World Cup, learned from them. There’s a transition now and hopefully this can be the place we’re champions again. This is a new generation. There are times you help but the kids now have such confidence. Take Gavi’s debut. They were telling me: ‘Keep him calm.’ Normally you have to get them going, push them. No, no, not him: there he was kicking people. I was like: there’s no way I could have done that at 17.”
Azpilicueta is 33 now. Nine years have passed since his first game for Spain, 10 since his debut for Chelsea, but none quite like 2022. And it’s not even over yet.
