Cesar Azpilicueta

“I watched Felipe Luis a lot of times. I played against him in Spain. I know he is a very good player.”

“Cesar's not even that hard. But I suppose Azpilicueta is. Some said my name was too difficult to pronounce and could they call me Dave. It's stuck. It's also done affectionately.”

“I've never run with the bulls. I prefer to watch from the safety of a balcony.”

“No one likes a change of coach.”

“When I was a kid, I was a striker. Then, I started to be a winger and defender sometimes.”

“The Premier League benefits from foreigners, and the game's evolved in a way that's beneficial, but you can't lose the roots of the English game.”

“People see the nice side of the game, but behind it all, there is a sacrifice that they don't see: the pressure, the repercussion, the way that impinges on your life.”

“Since I was a kid, even in school I gave my best, playing with my friends, 100 per cent sweating, fighting. When I was playing any game, even video games, I wanted to win.”

“I always learnt that to play well, you have to train hard, so every time I go on the training pitch, I try to give my best and to improve.”

“When you get lots of players up front, sometimes a counter-attack can take you by surprise and lead to a chance for the opposition.”

“I'm a defender, and my first job is to make the team secure at the back; that's my primary responsibility.”

“Often in Spain you're winning 2-0, there are 15 minutes left, and it's as good as over. You control it, and the tempo drops. In England, that doesn't happen. They put another striker on, long balls into the area, free-kicks, corners. They push you back.”

“Sometimes, on holiday for a few days, I would rest, but I couldn't sit for long. I had to go to the gym to run. To get myself fit. I need to do something. Sometimes my wife would get annoyed and say, 'Come on, we are on holidays,' but she knows what I am like.”

“I certainly feel appreciated at Chelsea.”

“A team is constructed with time and automatismos, habits, mechanisms.”

“At the start, it was a bit difficult to come to Chelsea, a new club in a new league with very good players. It was very difficult to get into the team, but I did a lot of things to try and settle quick into the club, the team, the area.”

“It is always interesting to play against a team that has many of the best players in the world.”

“It's flattering to be linked to Barcelona: it means you're playing well.”

“I've had five managers, and I've played with all of them.”

“Sometimes people say to me, 'Ah, you're not really Spanish; you're British.'”