克里斯坦森：開心的十年、目標世俱盃冠軍 - 切爾西足球俱樂部 Chelsea Football Club

https://www.chelseafc.com/en/news/2022/02/08/
christensen--ten-years-a-blue-and-targeting-gold-badge-on-shirt

Christensen: Ten years a Blue and targeting gold badge on shirt

08 Feb 2022


Ten years on from agreeing to join Chelsea as a junior player and on the
verge of making his 150th appearance for the club, we sat down with
Andreas Christensen to reflect on the defender's decade and the new
challenge of trying to win the FIFA Club World Cup…


https://i.imgur.com/hRlxnGn.jpg


'I would have been very, very happy.'


That is the declaration by Andreas Christensen when asked now what his
reaction would have been a decade ago if told then what he would go on to
achieve by this stage in his career.


He is speaking to us on the 10th anniversary of his decision to sign for
Chelsea. Already a Denmark Under-17 international at the time, he chose to
leave Brondby in his homeland for a Premier League academy. Looking at
photos from that time, Christensen thinks he has aged a lot since. Others
may disagree. He was certainly tall for his age in 2012, and was highly
rated too.


'I was training at Chelsea, I was training at Aston Villa at the same
time, and some other clubs wanted me to go and train with them,' he
recalls, 'so I kept comparing the other clubs to Chelsea and at some
point, I think I realised that the reason I was comparing other clubs to
Chelsea might be that it is where I want to be most.


'Growing up, the Premier League was always one of the leagues I watched
the most. In Denmark people support the teams and it was quite clear it
was one of my dreams to come to the Premier League.


https://i.imgur.com/eJzb9W9.jpg
Andreas Christensen with then technical director Michael Emenalo in 2012


'That is when I realised it was a choice I had to make and after taking
the decision, I called Michael Emenalo [then Chelsea's technical director]
quite quickly afterwards to say I would really like to become part of the
programme and see where it goes.'


== Winning when young ==


Where it went initially was plenty of success in the Chelsea Academy with
the FA Youth Cup and the Under-21 League won in his second season at the
club, following appearances in the final of the Youth Cup and European
competition the Next Gen Series in his first. Its successor, the UEFA
Youth League, was captured in 2015 with his coach at that time, Adi
Viveash, describing Christensen as the best young defender in Europe.


'We had a very strong age group,' Christensen says as he looks back. 'If
you look at the team, many of them are either playing in the Premier
League, the Championship or elsewhere in the world now.


https://i.imgur.com/Djt36db.jpg


'I feel now like it was quite a short time, as me, Ruben [Loftus-Cheek]
and Nathan [Ake] were training a lot with the first team quite early on,
while playing Academy games, and I feel like we won everything we could
which is why I came to Chelsea in the first place.'


In some ways, the final stages of the Next Gen tournament and the UEFA
Youth League were good preparation for what Christensen faces this week at
the FIFA Club World Cup, with a short stay in one location, a semi-final
stage and the aim of making a final a few days later, more truncated than
tournaments such as his notable Euro 2020 experience last summer.


'This is where you become closer to the group and you get to settle in to
an environment where you have to perform, and I like that,' he says. 'Back
then, because we felt like we had such a strong group, we felt we had a
chance to win every tournament.'


https://i.imgur.com/elK52AG.jpg
Christensen and Jordan Houghton (now with Plymouth) celebrating beating
Arsenal in the FA Youth Cup final in 2014


Also back then, the developing defender would at times play at right-back,
a position in which he made his first team debut in a cup game at
Shrewsbury in 2014 under Jose Mourinho, but one he largely feels is behind
him, unlike the role in midfield where Denmark sometimes ask him to deploy
his ball-playing skills.


== Leaps and bounds on loan ==


The benefit of the 2015/16 and 2016/17 seasons Christensen spent on loan
at high-achieving Bundesliga and Champions League side Borussia
Monchengladbach are well documented, but looking back, did playing in
Germany prepare him in any way for life under Thomas Tuchel?


'The way of training, it is how we are doing it now,' he decides, 'but I
think football has changed a little bit as well.


'People were warning me when I went to Germany about how disciplined it
was, how it is running all the time, but I didn't really feel like we did
that.


https://i.imgur.com/yECifI9.jpg
Up against Man City in the Champions League when on loan


'I think I was quite lucky, it was similar in the freedom we had on the
ball to what I was used to in England and that helped me, and it was not
too big a difference in terms of training. Physically I can see some
similarities to what we're doing now compared with what we did back then.


'In Germany, it improved me individually in playing in difficult
situations. We had a strong team and the way we played, it was very
offensive so I think it made me ready.'


In short, Chelsea had chosen his loan club well. He was even named
Borussia Monchengladbach's Player of the Year.


On his return to Stamford Bridge, he admits Gary Cahill's misfortune in
being sent off during the first game of the 2017/18 season presented him
with a chance, and he played his most matches in a Chelsea campaign in
what was Antonio Conte's second season in charge.


Under Maurizio Sarri he was considered more a player for our success in
the Europa League than one to be used in the Premier League, but
involvement increased domestically under Frank Lampard and Thomas Tuchel.


'It's been a bit in and out of teams, struggling to have a full season at
the really top level, but I feel it has gone a lot better in recent
years,' Christensen reflects.


'I have never given it up and everything I learnt in the Academy I have
tried to bring to it.'


== Chasing the Club World Cup ==


Which brings us onto the question that had, 10 years ago, the young
Andreas been told then that by now he would have earned a regular place in
the Chelsea side, had added the Champions League triumph to that Europa
League win, and been about to compete in the FIFA Club World Cup, would he
have been satisfied with that decade?


'I would have been very, very happy. I came the year Chelsea had won the
Champions League the first time around and that was the feeling, that the
goal for the club was to win it again, and at the age of 25 to have won
the Champions League already is a massive thing and is one of my dreams
that I wanted to achieve.


https://i.imgur.com/esrv9NN.jpg


'To have done it so early, I am over the moon to have experienced that and
am hungry to do it again.


'With the Club World Cup, I know how prestigious it is. Growing up in
Denmark, it's not the one they speak about the most but I've realised
since coming here it's a big deal, and it would be good to have that gold
badge in the middle of the shirt.'

--


Hoddle: 'Matthew will be sitting up there looking down now and

loving Chelsea being winners. He'll just love Chelsea winning.'


--