Language is secondary thing in "universal game" football: Azpilicueta on Chelsea players using French

London [UK], October 8 : Chelsea's Cesar Azpilicueta said that football is a universal game, and what language players use to communicate with each other is a secondary thing.
Azpilicueta said this while revealing that the Chelsea backline used French, rather than English, to communicate in the club's recent victory over Crystal Palace.
"Yes it's true, we were communicating in French. I speak French, as does Thiago [Silva], and obviously Kurt [Zouma] does as well. It was a good way for us to talk at the back. Edu [Mendy] in goal speaks French too, so it was the best way for us," the club's official website quoted Azpilicueta as saying.
"We try to help out as much as possible with the players that don't speak English at the moment and it is no problem for us. Thiago also speaks the same language as Jorginho, so he can communicate with him too. I think language is secondary though. Football is a universal game and for people like Thiago, he's been around the game for a long time and can lead others even without speaking the language so well," he added.
Chelsea registered a comfortable 4-0 win over Crystal Palace in their Premier League clash on October 3.
Azpilicueta also stressed that they want to make adaptation easy for new players.
"We want to make the adaptation as easy as possible for the new players and if we have to speak French in defence until the guys understand English, then that is fine," he added.