Chelsea star Cesar Azpilicueta sends message to fans from hospital bed

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By Martin Graham | 21st Feb 2023

Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta has sent a reassuring message to the club’s fans and his supporters after suffering a blow to the head over the weekend.

The Spain international took a boot to the face from Southampton’s Sekou Mara in the 74th minute of Chelsea’s 1 – 0 loss at home to their bottom-of-the-table visitors. The on-field treatment to stabilise him for a possible concussion before he could be moved off the field and to a hospital took almost 10 minutes of the game, betraying the seriousness of the incident.

Reports were the Spaniard passed out and was being resuscitated before they could move him out. He was taken straight to the hospital after that and the incident dampened the tense atmosphere around Chelsea’s loss to their visitors.

The latest indications show that he is recovering well and the Osasuna youth academy graduate shared a message on his social media to that effect.

The current longest serving Chelsea man posted this message to his Twitter account on Sunday evening: “Hi everyone! Thank you all for your love and messages of support!

“My family and I would like to thank everyone who has been looking after me since yesterday’s incident…

“From the Chelsea medical team, to team-mates and opponents, to St Mary’s and Cleveland Hospital and all staff members and doctors: a massive thank you from the bottom of my heart.

“Now, time to recover and I will see you soon on the pitch!”

Chelsea will be happy about the news, as will the fans who witnessed the horrific incident for which the offending player got away with just a yellow card.

Some sections of the fanbase are not letting it take away from the fact that they lost to the worst side in the Premier League at Stamford Bridge, however. Matters are made worse by the fact that the team lost consecutively, as the home defeat came just after they had lost the first leg of the round of 16 tie in the UEFA Champions League to Borussia Dortmund.

Chelsea manager Graham Potter spoke about his team’s performance on the day. “The first half was below par from us,” under-fire Chelsea boss Potter said. “Credit to Southampton, they mixed the game up well.

“For different reasons we weren’t at the level we should have been in the first half. In the second half our response was really good.

“You have to put those chances away. The scoreline isn’t good enough for us, we’re disappointed with that. We got into some really good opportunities and at the level we’re playing at, you have to score them.

“We had that in the week against Dortmund, but the first half was probably a reflection of us returning from the Champions League, the changes we had to make and a lack of fluidity.”