Christensen has already declared himself an all-purpose player in 2019

Andreas Christensen is one of the internal squad solutions valued by the technical staff led by Xavi Hernández to give Oriol Romeu the needed rest, according to Ferran Martínez in MD. The willingness of the Danish defender to adapt tactically is certainly known for the position in which the Barça coach is preparing him, but it is more considering what the Danish international himself explained in August 2019when he played for Chelsea.

Always willing to help his teams with whatever was needed, Christensen recalled his time in unexpected places for him in football before he made the jump to the great elite.

With Brondby, before moving to Chelsea’s youth team in 2012, he tried his luck as a purely attacking footballer. He himself elaborated on this during the conversation for Sky Sports News: “Every season we need a ’10’, so I ‘moved’ there, played very well I would say, then we need a ‘6’, but it’s a slightly more advanced position, so it can I want you to do it”.

Finally, he explained that another specific tactical emergency has put him in the position where he has made his career, previously in the first team of Borussia Moenchengladbach, where he played on loan for Chelsea, in the ‘blue’ club itself and now at Barça. “One day we needed a defender and they chose me and I played well there too”. Of course, he admitted that there was a rubicon he did not cross. “Goalkeeper was the next step, but that didn’t happen!”.

Paying attention to how trade masters do it in each case is one of their references. “When I switched to defender, I had two or three players that I admired in my mind. John Terry when I arrived at Chelsea, because he had a big presence at the club and someone I admired. And Daniel was also at Liverpool” Si Agger, he was the center of Denmark in the national team, someone I always talk to. I still admire them both and want to do what they have achieved,” he recalled then.

It is curious, because on the day of his presentation as a new Barça football player, that he arrived in the summer of 2022 after ending his contract with Chelsea, he mentioned two “references” from Barcelona who moved from midfield towards the forward: “I remember Ronaldhino already Deco, I saw the way he played and I really liked the style.”

Last January, after winning the Super Cup, the description Xavi made about ‘center Christensen’ could fit perfectly about ‘pivot Christensen’. “He gives me confidence. When he plays he gives me a lot of confidence. Few things happen in his area. He solves everything well. When he is there you have a feeling of calm. He does many things well: his ball delivery is very good, he has a very good head, he wins duels because he is aggressive when he plays,” described Xavi.