'This a wind up?' Terry and Fabregas respond to claims about Azpilicueta's ability

The Boro manager went against popular opinion when he joined talkSPORT and expressed his belief that Chelsea captain Azpilicueta winning so much was more down to luck.

The skipper had been widely praised for his performance in the Club World Cup final, with a clever penalty bluff allowing Kai Havertz to score and win Chelsea the trophy for the first time.

Azpilicueta has been at Stamford Bridge for just shy of a decade, and has uniquely won everything on offer.

His performances in a Chelsea shirt saw the 32-year-old named club captain in 2019, taking over from Gary Cahill who had replaced club legend John Terry two years earlier.

Azpilicueta has now lifted three trophies with the armband, and was singled out for individual praise for his leadership during the 2-1 final victory over Palmeiras in Abu Dhabi.

One man wasn't too impressed, though, and that was vastly experienced promotion expert Warnock.

The 73-year-old has faced the Spaniard on four occasions as a manager, losing all four matches against Chelsea whilst managing Cardiff, Crystal Palace and Leeds.

Azpilicueta even scored against Warnock's Cardiff during a dramatic late comeback in 2019, which as good as relegated the Welsh side, leaving Warnock fuming on the pitch.

"I think he's been a very fortunate lad to be at a club like Chelsea," he told the Breakfast show on Monday.

"I don't think he's a great defender. Sometimes in football you need a bit of luck, and I think he's had a bit of luck that he's been there at the right time and at the right place.

"That's what you need in football. You need a bit of luck to be successful."

Terry, hearing his comments, asked on Twitter: 'Is this a wind up?'

The former captain also posted nine trophy emojis to symbolise Azpilicueta's haul at the Bridge, while Fabregas replied with some similarly unimpressed emojis.

Another talkSPORT host, Jason Cundy, was similarly puzzled by Warnock's opinion, believing he will regret the claim.

Azpilicueta, though, has ignored Warnock's claims - he knows how good he is - and preferred to see the funnier side when former striker Darren Bent tried to pronounce his surname, which jokingly saw him nicknamed 'Dave' when he arrived in England.

"I was lucky to get Dave as my nickname," he laughed on Twitter when Bent had his mistake pointed out to him by host Laura Woods.