Cesar Azpilicueta recently spoke in the Chelsea magazine on how his life has changed during his four-year at Stamford Bridge.
Since the first day I came here I felt very good, very comfortable with everybody at the club. They looked after me since the first day, so obviously after a few years, you feel better and better every day, and I want to keep going.
My life has changed in those four years. I’ve become a dad and I have also grown here because when I arrived I was just 22, so in time you become stronger. You discover a new country, new people and a new sporting culture, a new league with different players and different managers. I think it has been a very, very good experience these past four years.
The Spanish defender also spoke about the current Chelsea side and how vital next season will be for the Blues.
We have Premier League games to win and our motivation is to finish as high up the table as possible, because for Chelsea it’s not enough to be fighting in mid-table.
We haven’t won any trophies this season but we want to win as many games as we can and prepare to lift trophies again next season.
I’ve been here four seasons. In two seasons, I won trophies and in two I didn’t win. So hopefully we will get back to winning trophies again next season. I think we will improve and for Chelsea the only target is to win.
For the big clubs, if you have one bad season where you don’t win trophies, you have to bounce back. We are in a big club here and we have to fight again for trophies next season.
Azpilicueta has won the Premier League, FA Cup, and Europa League during his time in west London. He was also named the Chelsea Players’ Player of the Year in 2014.
Chelsea currently sit in 10th in the Premier League table (44 points) with six games remaining and trail Stoke City by three points, Liverpool by four points and Southampton by six points – though the Blues have a game in hand on the Potters and Saints.
It has been mostly a season to forget, as Chelsea hopes of silverware this season are completely dashed — a Champions League loss to Paris Saint-Germain on 9th March, a loss to Everton in the Round of 16 of the FA Cup, a penalty shootout loss to Stoke City in the Capital One Cup.
The Blues were mathematically eliminated from repeating Premier League glory after their 2-2 draw with West Ham on 19th March.
An atrocious title defence forced the club to sack Jose Mourinho in December and have lost just one of 16 league matches since the club relieved the Portuguese of his duties — last weekend’s 1-0 loss to Swansea at the Liberty Stadium.
