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Chelsea star Kepa Arrizabalaga has compared football to Formula 1 due to the “high-pressure situations” involved in both sports.
The goalkeeper is now a firm fixture between the sticks for the Blues after spending a lot of time on the bench behind fellow goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.
And even with the club’s struggles this season, Kepa has performed admirably at the back to enjoy a fine individual campaign.
Chelsea ace compares football to F1
The Blues number one has now revealed which sports other than football he follows, and indeed how they compare to his profession. Unsurprisingly, given his often lonely role on the pitch, the Spaniard follows solo sports such as Formula 1 and MotoGP.
Both sports do, of course, involve support from an entire team, much like football, but at the end of the day it is the driver who is in the spotlight.
“I like Formula 1, MotoGP,” Kepa told the official Chelsea website. “I like motorbikes a lot. I closely watch how they manage high-pressure situations. A goalkeeper plays in a team but there are several times in which you are alone, and you need to have the mental strength to overcome certain moments and situations.
“So I like to see how Formula 1 teams work, the strategies they use, how they face a breakdown, a mechanical failure, how they plan the following laps if they register better or worse lap times.
“In the end they are people whose hearts are racing and who must make decisions in that state, which I find very difficult – even more so if we take into account the emotions and the speed at which they are driving. I like those sports a lot and I find them quite interesting.”
Spanish players helped welcome Chelsea keeper
The Chelsea goalkeeper has had plenty of ups and downs during his time with the Blues, where he has been since 2018 after his move from Athletic Bilbao.
It was quite a culture change for the Spaniard, who now finds himself in a major city and with much more pressure on his shoulders due to the responsibility of playing for a club like Chelsea.
But the goalkeeper has revealed that several of his compatriots helped him massively upon the move, with Chelsea’s Spanish players like Cesar Azpilicueta and Cesc Fabregas playing a key role in welcoming him into the team.
“I came up through the ranks from the age of nine to the age of 23,” added Kepa. “I knew everyone, I knew the fans, the pitch and everything – and when I moved to London, that wasn’t the case.
“What I do have to say is that I found myself at a club where I was helped with everything. I met teammates, and there were a lot of Spanish players when I arrived. There were five or six of us.
“All this helps you a bit more and makes you feel more at home. They helped me a lot, and that was really important to me at the start. Azpi was there, so was Cesc, Pedro, Alvaro Morata, Marcos Alonso. There were quite a few of us.”
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