page_title: César Azpilicueta
section_title: Chelsea
hierarchical_section_title: César Azpilicueta / Club career / Chelsea
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Chelsea 1:0 Man Utd 13.03.17 FA Cup QF
context_page_description: César Azpilicueta Tanco is a Spanish professional footballer who captains Premier League club Chelsea and plays for the Spain national team primarily as a full back but also as a centre back.
  A youth product of Osasuna, he spent three seasons in La Liga before switching to Marseille, winning four major honours with the French club. In the summer of 2012, he moved to Chelsea, winning the Europa League in his first season and a domestic double two years later. He has made over 350 appearances for the club, winning the Europa League again as captain in 2019.
  Azpilicueta earned 55 caps for Spain at youth level in all age groups, and represented the under-21s in two European Championships, winning the 2011 edition. He made his first appearance with the full side in 2013 and was selected for two World Cups as well as Euro 2016.
context_section_description: On 24 August 2012, Chelsea completed the signing of Azpilicueta for an undisclosed fee, reported as £7 million. According to teammate and countryman Juan Mata, "He is a strong running right-back who has pace as well, so I think he is already a complete player." Due to his surname being difficult for some speakers of English to pronounce, club fans gave him the mononymous nickname "Dave".
  Azpilicueta made his debut on 25 September 2012, starting in a 6–0 home win against Wolverhampton Wanderers in a League Cup tie. He played his first Premier League game the following week, coming on as a substitute for Branislav Ivanović in a 4–1 success over Norwich City, also at Stamford Bridge.
  On 3 November 2012, Azpilicueta made his first league start, appearing against Swansea City in a 1–1 away draw. He played 48 official contests in his first year with the Rafael Benítez-led side, including eight in the Blues' victorious campaign in the UEFA Europa League. In the final against S.L. Benfica his 67th-minute handball led to Óscar Cardozo equalising through a penalty kick, in an eventual 2–1 win in Amsterdam.
  Azpilicueta scored his first competitive goal for Chelsea on 29 October 2013, netting the first in a 2–0 victory at Arsenal in the fourth round of the League Cup. Following the arrival of new manager José Mourinho, he began appearing regularly as a left-back, taking the place of longtime incumbent Ashley Cole. Mourinho said of him: "Azpilicueta is the kind of player I like a lot. I think a team with 11 Azpilicuetas would probably win the competition (Champions League) because football is not just about pure talent". At the end of the season, he was voted the club's Player's Player of the Year.
  Before the start of the 2014–15 season, Cole was released and the club spent £15.8 million on Filipe Luís, but Azpilicueta began the season as first-choice left-back. On 2 September 2014, he signed a new five-year contract with the club and on 18 October, he was sent off in the first half of a 2–1 win at Crystal Palace for a foul on Mile Jedinak.
  Azpilicueta started as Chelsea won the League Cup on 1 March 2015. In the second half, he was injured in a collision with Tottenham Hotspur's Eric Dier, and had to leave the pitch for a bandage to be wrapped around his head. The campaign ended with the additional conquest of the domestic league title, after a five-year wait.
  On 2 August 2015, Azpilicueta featured for 69 minutes in the 1–0 loss to Arsenal in the FA Community Shield. Nineteen days later, he scored the team's third goal in a 3–2 away win over West Bromwich Albion, for what was his first Premier League goal, and he netted again in a 2–2 draw in the reverse fixture on 13 January 2016.
  Although Azpilicueta was initially used as a left-back under new coach Antonio Conte, after two consecutive league defeats the latter converted into a back-three formation, with the former playing as a centre-back in the following match against Hull City on 1 October 2016, which ended in a 2–0 away win. On 13 December 2016 he signed a new three-and-a-half-year contract with Chelsea, running until 2020; in his first appearance following the agreement he made his 200th competitive appearance for the club, in a 1–0 away victory over Sunderland.
  Azpilicueta played every minute of the season as his team won the domestic league, and scored in a 4–3 home win against Watford after the title was already won. In late July 2017, after the departure of John Terry, he was appointed vice-captain to Gary Cahill. On 12 September that year, he scored his first Champions League goal, in a 6–0 group stage home win against Qarabağ FK.
  After Cahill left Chelsea, Azpilicueta was named club captain ahead of the 2019–20 season; he had already worn the armband on the pitch while the Englishman was out of the team, including in the 2019 UEFA Europa League Final victory against Arsenal in Azerbaijan. On 23 October, he marked his 350th Chelsea appearance with a 1–0 group stage away win against Ajax in the Champions League.
  On 1 January 2020, Azpilicueta marked his 100th appearance a
caption: Azpilicueta playing for Chelsea in 2017
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