Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has named the untouchable in his squad ahead of their Champions League semi-final first leg tie with Real Madrid on Tuesday in Spain.
It is set to be another huge week for Chelsea and one that could set them up for an exciting end to this campaign.
Having beat West Ham 1-0 at the weekend they are in a good position now to seal their top four position in the Premier League at the end of this season.
Now the London side have a chance to get into the Champions League final over two legs against La Liga giants Real Madrid, with the first game tomorrow night.
And One player who you can be almost entirely sure that he will be on the pitch is club captain Cesar Azpilicueta. Tuchel believes the player will always be on the pitch for the blues, adding that he is everything the west London club means because he is reliable.
“He [Cesar Azpilicueta] is everything Chelsea means,” Tuchel said at his post-match press conference following Chelsea’s 1-0 win against West Ham in the Premier League over the weekend.
“He is fantastic, and I want him absolutely to be on the pitch because he is a fantastic captain and a fantastic sportsman.
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“He’s everything Chelsea means in my point of view – he is humble, he’s a fighter, he constantly thinks about winning, and he does everything to be in shape every three days. He is a true professional, and there is no work too hard or distance too long for him.
“We used him as a wing-back, and it was a bit hard because he had to do several long runs. It was a bit different for him, but we chose the back three with Andreas, Toni [Rudiger] and Thiago [Silva] because we knew about West Ham’s strength in set-pieces, and we wanted to gain some centimetres in height.
“Azpi is totally open to anything once he sees the reason why. He was very excited to be involved a bit more offensively, and it is nice to have this. The two positions [wing-back and full-back] suit him very well, and he is absolutely reliable.”
