César Azpilicueta

At 35 years old, César Azpilicueta has this physical status:

César Azpilicueta Tanco (born 28 August 1989) is a Spanish professional footballer who captains Premier League club Chelsea and appears on Spain's national team primarily as a full back but also as a central defender. He spent three seasons in La Liga before moving to Marseille, winning four major awards with the French club. He was a youth product of Osasuna.

He migrated to Chelsea in the summer of 2012, winning the Europa League in his first season and a domestic double two years later.

He has made more than 350 appearances for the club, winning the Europa League again as captain in 2019. Azpilicueta gained 55 caps for Spain at youth and under-21s, as well as representing the under-21s in two European Championships, winning the 2011 edition.

In 2013, he made his first appearance with the full team in 2013, and was chosen for two World Cups as well as Euro 2016.

Personal life

Azpilicueta was born in Zizur Mayor, Navarre, to Patxi Azpilicueta, a painter, and Charo Tanco, a primary school teacher. Juan Pablo, Azpilicueta's older brother (born 1980), was also a footballer. He was primarily a midfielder for lower-league football. Juan Pablo has transitioned into leadership since his demise. He was most active as the head of CD Subiza in Tercera División, Spain.

Adriana Guerendiain, his long-term girlfriend, married him in June 2015. The couple have three children together: two daughters and a son. Martina, Adriana's first daughter, was born in March 2014.

Azpilicueta has been a board member and co-owner of English non-league side Hashtag United, which competes in the Isthmian League North Division since 2018. Azpilicueta announced the formation of the Falcons, his own esports team, in 2020. He and Jose Antonio Cacho and Jesus Rincon, together with Jose Antonio Cacho and Jesus Rincon, are top YouTube viewers in Spain with millions of YouTube followers.

Azpilicueta is trilingual. He is an excellent speaker of Spanish, French, and English. As of 2021, he is pursuing an online degree, an MBA in Business Management at the Berlin School of Business and Innovation.

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Club career

He made his La Liga debut against Real Madrid on April 8, 2007, then moved to midfielder and spent time with both his club and international careers; including centre-back and central midfielder.

Azpilicueta made his first-team debut in 2007-08, albeit as a right-back. He went on to play in all but two league games, but in all but two league games.

On June 21, 2010, French club Olympique de Marseille announced that an agreement had been reached with Osasuna for the transfer of Azpilicueta. In a four-year deal worth €7 million, a three-year contract was reached. The Navarrese confirmed the deal a week later, with the transfer fee potentially increasing to as much as €9.5 million depending on appearances. He scored the match's only goal against Spartak Moscow in his UEFA Champions League debut, but in his own net.

In the early minutes of a 4–0 home victory over Montpellier, which saw Marseille advance to the top of the league, Azpilicueta ruptured the anterior cruciate ligaments in his left knee. He had been out of work for six months. In a 3–0 win over Auxerre on June 13, he scored his first and only Ligue 1 goal for Marseille.

"If Chelsea makes a fair bid for Azpi [Azpilicueta], we will let him go," Marseille told us in August 2012. Despite his loyalty to Marseille, the player said he was able to leave if his "departure would benefit Marseille's finances."

Chelsea completed the transaction with Azpilicueta for an undisclosed fee on August 24, 2012. "He is a good running right-back who has a lot of energy," teammate and countryman Juan Mata says, "I think he is now a complete player." Due to his surname being impossible for some English speakers to pronounce, some speakers of English are unable to pronounce, team supporters gave him the mononymous nickname "Dave."

Azpilicueta made his debut on September 25, 2012, beating Wolverhampton Wanderers 6–0 in a League Cup match in a league Cup tie. In a 4–1 triumph over Norwich City and also at Stamford Bridge, he appeared in his first Premier League game the following week.

Azpilicueta's first league appearance came against Swansea City in a 1–1 away draw on November 3, 2012. In his first year with the Rafael Bentez-led team, he won eight championships, including eight in the Blues' triumphant campaign in the UEFA Europa League. In an eventual 2–1 win in Amsterdam, his 67th-minute handball resulted in a 67th-minute tie.

In a 2–0 victory at Arsenal in the fourth round of the League Cup, Azpilicueta scored his first competitive goal for Chelsea on October 29, 2013, scoring the first. Following the arrival of new manager José Mourinho, he began appearing on a left-back basis, replacing longtime incumbent Ashley Cole. "Azpilicueta is the kind of player I like a lot," Mourinho said of him. Since football is not about pure talent, I suspect a team with 11 Azpilicuetas will win the championship (Champions League). He was named Player of the Year by the club's Players' Player of the Year at the end of the season.

Cole was released and the club spent £15.8 million on Filipe Lus, but Azpilicueta started the season as the first-choice left-back. He signed a new five-year deal with the club on September 2, 2014, and after being dismissed in the first half of a 2–1 victory at Crystal Palace for a foul on Mile Jedinak, he was suspended on October 18th.

Chelsea defeated Chelsea in the League Cup on March 1st, and Azpilicueta got off to a promising start. He was hurt in a match with Tottenham Hotspur's Eric Dier and had to leave the pitch for a bandage tied around his head in the second half. After a five-year absence, the campaign came to an end with the additional crown of the domestic league championship.

Azpilicueta was active for 69 minutes in the 1–0 2015 FA Community Shield loss to Arsenal on August 2, 2015. In a 3–2 draw in the reverse fixture on January 13, he scored the team's third goal in a 3–2 away win over West Bromwich Albion for his first Premier League goal, and the team's third goal in a 3–2 draw.

Despite the fact that Azpilicueta was first used as a left-back under new coach Antonio Conte's tenure, the former team was converted into a back-three unit during the following match against Hull City, which resulted in a 2–0 away victory. Following the deal, he signed a new three-and-a-half years with Chelsea, his first appearance for the club since the January deal; he made his 200th competitive appearance for the club after the agreement; winning 1–0 over Sunderland.

Azpilicueta was on vacation for the rest of the season as his team advanced to the domestic league, and he scored in a 4-3 victory over Watford after the title was already won. In late July 2017, after John Terry's departure, he was named vice-captain to Gary Cahill. In a 6–0 group stage home victory over Qaraba FK on September 12, he scored his first Champions League goal.

In December 2018, Azpilicueta signed a new one that will continue until 2022. Cahill was named captain of Chelsea ahead of the 2019-20 season; he had already worn the armband on the pitch while the Englishman was out of the team, including against Arsenal in Azerbaijan in the 2019 UEFA Europa League Finals. Chelsea defeated Ajax 1–0 in the Champions League on Sunday, marking his 350th appearance in the Champions League.

Azpilicueta scored and was named man of the match in the 1-1 draw against Brighton & Hove Albion on January 1, 2020. Azpilicueta conceded a penalty and was later suspended during his replacement after losing 2–1 to Arsenal in the 2020 FA Cup Final on August 1.

When Azpilicueta appeared against Manchester City on January 3rd 2021, he became the 13th player in Chelsea's history to make 400 appearances. During a 1–2 loss, Jack Grealish of Aston Villa was suspended for appearing to punch him on the 23rd of the league season, but the three-game suspension was reversed on appeal. He captained the team to a 1–0 victory in the UEFA Champions League Final against Manchester City, who claimed their first Champions League title in nine years.

Azpilicueta's fourth Chelsea player to reach 300 Premier League appearances since John Terry (492), Frank Lampard (429), and Petr ech (333). In a 1-1 draw, he started against Liverpool.

Azpilicueta was one of five Chelsea players named in the final 30-man shortlist for the 2021 Ballon d'Or on October 8th.

Azpilicueta lifted the trophy in the 2021 FIFA Club World Cup Final on Sunday, the first one since Chelsea lost to Corinthians in 2012. With this trophy and the UEFA Super Cup coming right before, it made him the first and only Chelsea player to have won every major trophy at the club. He signed a new deal with Chelsea until 2024 on August 4, 2022.

International career

Azpilicueta was a member of the Spain Under-19 team, which took home the UEFA European Championship in 2007. He was drafted for the 2009 European Championships in Sweden, where he started three games in the case of a potential group stage relegation.

In anticipation of the forthcoming edition of the FIFA World Cup, 20-year-old Azpilicueta was named by senior side manager Vicente del Bosque on a provisional list of 30 players. He did not make the final cut until the end. He went to the European Under-21 Championship in Denmark a year after recovering from a long-term injury and winning the tournament.

After losing out on pick for the UEFA Euro 2012 tournament, Azpilicueta was selected for Spain's squad for the 2012 Summer Olympics. Due to the presence of lvaro Domnez in the national team's last group match, a 0–0 draw with Morocco at Old Trafford, the national team had to leave the national team early in the group stage.

Azpilicueta was selected in the squad for the upcoming international friendly against Uruguay on February 1, 2013. The manager announced the pick: 'Azpilicueta is playing several games for Chelsea.' He has a lot of energy, defends well, and is always ready to strike. We have a lot of hope for him. In the 3–1 victory in Doha, Qatar, he made his debut five days later and played the full 90 minutes; after the match, he said it was his "dream to play for Spain" at the senior level. Azpilicueta was invited to the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup tournament in Brazil, where he began playing in his second group game against Tahiti, which Spain defeated 10–0 in a record for the largest margin of victory, and replaced lvaro Arbeloa at halftime in the final against the hosts, an eventual 3–0 loss.

Azpilicueta was selected to represent Spain in the 2014 FIFA World Cup in June 2014. He was the starting right-back during the country's first two games against the Netherlands and Chile as the country was eliminated at the group level.

Azpilicueta was also included in the 23-man squad for the 2018 World Cup in Russia, as well as the 24-man squad for UEFA Euro 2020. In the second round of 16, he scored his first senior international goal, his team's second of a 5–3 victory over Croatia.

For the first time in a 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Georgia, Azpilicueta captained Spain for the first time in a 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Georgia on September 5th 2021.

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