{"id":991585,"date":"2022-02-15T14:29:34","date_gmt":"2022-02-15T14:29:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/02\/15\/azpilicueta-reveals-mind-games-in-club-world-cup-final\/"},"modified":"2022-02-15T14:29:34","modified_gmt":"2022-02-15T14:29:34","slug":"azpilicueta-reveals-mind-games-in-club-world-cup-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/02\/15\/azpilicueta-reveals-mind-games-in-club-world-cup-final\/","title":{"rendered":"Azpilicueta reveals mind games in Club World Cup final"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"td-post-featured-image\">\n<figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" class=\"entry-thumb\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/3314763-67775528-2560-1440-696x392.jpg\"   alt=\"Azpilicueta lifts the Club World Cup trophy Image credit: Getty Images\" title=\"Azpilicueta lifts the Club World Cup trophy  Image credit: Getty Images\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Azpilicueta lifts the Club World Cup trophy<\/p>\n<p>Image credit: Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Cesar Azpilicueta has revealed he tried to take the pressure off Kai Havertz by pretending he was going to take\u00a0Chelsea\u2019s extra-time penalty in the Club World Cup final win over Palmeiras.<\/p>\n<p>Havertz scored from the spot in the 117th minute to secure victory for Chelsea in Abu Dhabi.<\/p>\n<p>Before Havertz netted the penalty it looked as though Azpilicueta was set to take it as he picked up the ball and stood by the penalty spot.<\/p>\n<p>Palmeiras players crowded around the defender to try to put him off before Azpilicueta handed the ball over to Havertz.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/22191989129,1002554\/MGL\/mgl_ado_atunwa_300x250 --><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was a tactic because I knew how they are,\u201d explained Chelsea captain Azpilicueta.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI knew they were coming for the penalty taker, so I took the ball.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cKai knew that he was going to shoot so it was to release the pressure from him. It was a decisive moment and Kai is one of the best penalty takers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI waited and listened to everything their players told me, and I think it worked, which is the most important thing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ ALSO<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Having signed for Chelsea in 2012, Azpilicueta is the first player in the club\u2019s history to win every major honour.<\/p>\n<p>He adds the Club World Cup to the Premier League, Champions League, Europa League, FA Cup, League Cup and European Super Cup.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I arrived in 2012 I couldn\u2019t imagine the journey I would go on,\u201d said the 32-year-old, who is into the final six months of his contract.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m really proud to be the Chelsea captain, leading the club on and off the pitch. This title feels very good because it\u2019s the first time in our history. The club deserves it, the owner deserves it and I\u2019m proud we achieved it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Havertz, who also scored the winning goal in last season\u2019s Champions League final against Manchester City, said he was feeling nerves ahead of the penalty.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s amazing. After champions of Europe, we are now champions of the world. It sounds better.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was nervous [taking the penalty], I have to be honest. It\u2019s a big penalty. It\u2019s just crazy. It was good I kept the nerves. I am very happy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was the third penalty taker but I was the only one left on the pitch. My teammates gave me trust. I dreamed always as a kid of this. This is an amazing feeling for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>            <!--  [embed]https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=videoseries[\/embed]<!--\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>--><\/p>\n<div class=\"youtube-embed\" data-video_id=\"OCEl9Yu8zOc\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Tamale Metro Violence: Analyzing Police-Youth clash that killed one person at Lamashegu (14-2-22)\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OCEl9Yu8zOc?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Azpilicueta lifts the Club World Cup trophy Image credit: Getty Images Cesar Azpilicueta has revealed he tried to take the pressure off Kai Havertz by pretending he was going to take\u00a0Chelsea\u2019s extra-time penalty in the Club World Cup final win over Palmeiras. Havertz scored from the spot in the 117th minute to secure victory for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":991586,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[5070,1665,262,1450,79,2426,51,784],"class_list":["post-991585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-azpilicueta","tag-club","tag-cup","tag-final","tag-games","tag-mind","tag-reveals","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/991585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=991585"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/991585\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=991585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=991585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=991585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}