Chelsea head to Spain on Tuesday to take on Real Madrid in the Champions League and manager Thomas Tuchel has a key decision to make regarding the position of Cesar Azpilicueta.
The full-back has been playing as a right-sided centre-back under the new boss but on Saturday against West Ham United, Azpilicueta was used as a right wing-back. This allowed Christensen to come into the side and play alongside Thiago Silva and Rudiger.
Now with the first leg coming up, there’s a big debate as to whether Cesar Azpilicueta should remain at right wing-back or should Tuchel call him back into defence.
The manager has made it clear that the experienced pro is open to playing in any role handed out to him but if his words are anything to go by then Azpilicueta might not be the ideal choice as a wing-back.
‘He’s fantastic and I want him absolutely to be on the pitch because he’s a fantastic captain and a fantastic sportsman,’ the manager said, as per Chelseafc.com.
‘He is everything Chelsea means in my point of view – he’s humble, he’s a fighter, he thinks constantly about winning and he does everything to be in shape every three days. He’s 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 and Thiago 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’s nice to have this. The two positions [wing-back and full-back] suit him very well and he’s absolutely reliable.’
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Real Madrid have players like Vinicius Jr and Eden Hazard in their squad and there’s no way the 31-year-old will be able to match up to them. And this is the main reason why Tuchel will not put anything to chance and bring Reece James into the right wing-back role.
Cesar Azpilicueta will hopefully move into the three-man defensive line thereby pushing Christensen to the bench on Tuesday.
