“He made me bloody cry at Cardiff” – Ex-Premier League manager recalls Azpilicueta moment as defender leaves Chelsea
Neil Warnock has revealed Cesar Azpilicueta made him cry after scoring for Chelsea against Cardiff City. Warnock said he was fine watching the Spaniard cry in his farewell video and suggested it was his time to shed a tear or two.
In the 2018/19 season, Azpilicueta scored a late header to level the score and help Chelsea leave Cardiff with a point. He was offside while scoring, but the linesman's vision was blocked by Willian, who had taken the corner seconds before Marcos Alonso headed the ball into the Spaniard's path.
Warnock has claimed the two points would have helped Cardiff stay up, but in reality, they would have still finished 18th as their goal difference was worse than Brighton & Hove Albion. The former manager said:
"He made me bloody cry at Cardiff. He scores an offside goal, a good two yards offside. I can tell you now Craig Pawson and the linesman, I can remember the names as if it's stuck on me. And, and we would have stayed up if that was disallowed, this offside goal. I went on other lineman and he couldn't quite see it. And there were no VAR, this was the year before. So yeah, you can cry a bit now."
Cesar Azpilicueta leaves Chelsea after 11 years
Cesar Azpilicueta was in tears as he bid goodbye to the Premier League side after 11 years. The Spaniard played over 500 matches for Chelsea and won 9 trophies in his spell at Stamford Bridge.
Taking time to drop a message for the club officials and the fans, Azpilicueta wrote:
"I'd like to say so many things, but I'm going to keep it short. I want to say every time you are part of this club you give your best. That's how I learned to be part of Chelsea.
The demands are really high, the commitment to the club, to the fans, every single day, even in tough moments when maybe it's easier to go down a different path."
He added:
"That's the moment to show the personality, the soul of the club, all together, pushing in the same direction. I know Chelsea will be back where it should be.
To the fans, I tried to give back all the love and support you have given me since I arrived. You called me Dave since the first day and I didn't know what it meant, but I felt a connection straightaway."
The Spaniard joined Atletico Madrid this week after his contract was mutually terminated at Stamford Bridge. He was also in Inter Milan's plans, but Beppe Marotta confirmed the agreement was pulled after interest from Madrid.
The Inter Milan CEO admitted they had a 2-year agreeement with the defender, but could not do much as the full-back's family wanted to head back to Spain.