Hernan Crespo says he’d rather play for Chelsea than Juventus and sees similarities between Federico Chiesa and his father, Enrico.

With Juventus vs. Chelsea just around the corner, Crespo was asked if he’d rather play the big match at the Allianz Stadium with the Bianconeri or with the Blues.

“Chelsea, for a matter of respect for my history as a footballer. I joined Chelsea twice during my career. I won the Premier League and the Community Shield in 2006. I could only pick the Blues,” he told Sportweek.

“I always scored important goals against Juventus, so he’d be ok to have them as opponents.”

The Bianconeri host Chelsea at the Allianz Stadium in their second Champions League group stage game on Wednesday.

“I don’t know exactly the situation of the two teams, even if I follow all the games here in Brazil,” the former striker continued.

“I saw their opening Champions League games and both snatched convincing wins.  They are super favourite to go beyond the group stage, but it’s tough to predict the result.”

Crespo, the current coach of Sao Paulo in Brazil, spent almost his entire career in Italy, wearing the shirts of Parma, Lazio, Milan, Inter and Genoa.

The 46-year-old scored 153 goals in 340 appearances in Serie A. During his time at Parma, he played with former Italy striker Enrico Chiesa, father to Juventus’ winger Federico.

“Federico is as fast as his dad and he has the same selfishness, which is crucial for a striker,” he said.

“He must learn how to be more effective. He doesn’t need to score at every shot, but at least once every two attempts.

How about Romelu Lukaku?

“He drags defenders behind him and opens spaces for his teammates. He scores and helps his team. Lukaku is a fantastic striker.”

Crespo played for Chelsea in 2003-04 and 2005-06. He was one of the first signings of the Roman Abramovic era.

He scored 25 goals in 73 appearances during his time at Stamford Bridge.

 

4 thought on “Crespo: ‘I’d rather play for Chelsea than Juventus’”
  1. @Ttt

    Milan, despite their dreadful collapse against Liverpool in the ’05 final, were probably the best team he played for. Lazio were lop-sided. Plenty of star names, but far from a great team.
    They were pretty poor when he was there.

  2. @Cypher.

    Not really flopped. A goal every 139min is pretty good, considering Mourinho preferred the bullish Drogba instead. Not sure how easy it was either – that was around the time it surpassed Serie A.

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