Oriol Romeu recently did an interview in Spanish, and fearless leader Graham asked us to translate it to English manually. There's some very interesting stuff here (after the jump).
** Translation work credit to Habana and TheRamster **
Question: Did the idea that for the first time in your life you could celebrate a Barcelona defeat come to your mind?
Answer: Yes, ever since I left Barca I knew this could happen.
Q: Why did you leave the Catalan club?
A: Because the offer came from Chelsea. I would not have gone if not for the interest of a great team. I thought it was good for my career, that it would be a big leap sporting wise. I came to learn and even if I haven’t played recently, I do not regret this step because I found what I wanted. Barca understood me and helped me. Despite my departure I will be forever grateful to Barcelona.
Q: You have said that the difference between both teams is that Barcelona is a feeling and Chelsea a business…
A: No, I’ve never said that!! Have you seen one of our games, do you think there are no feelings there. For money I would have gone somewhere else.
Q: Did you leave to return?
A: No, I came to grow as a player. It is not my objective to return to Barcelona, I want to forge a place at Chelsea to ultimately become an important player. I’ve only been here a few months, so I have to be patient.
Q: Has the coach explained why he doesn’t play you?
A: No, he doesn’t have to. At Chelsea, just like at any other team, when you don’t deserve to play you don’t play, I just need to show more in training
Q: You already shared a locker with Messi, Xavi, and now with Lampard, Terry, Drogba….. Is the English one more hierarchised?
A: No I don’t think so. At Barca, there are a lot of homegrown players so most are of the same age, it’s different…..Here it’s different as there are few youth players and a lot have come from abroad. But just everywhere, veterans rule the locker room. It’s evident that Terry is a captain and more. But you shouldn’t think the veterans don’t talk to us or help us, in the contrary when I arrived they helped me a lot. John Terry comes to cheer me up when I don’t play, I could say he was captain from the beginning.
Q: Does he dispatch orders a lot?
A: In the club Roman Abramovich does it, but in the field Terry does it a lot. Fortunately I haven’t had a confrontation with him, but I’ve seen some pheeeeeeeeeeeew….
Q: Do you know Abramovich?
A: I’ve met him once, and the day he came to tell us Villas-Boas was not in charge anymore and that Di Matteo was the new coach, he was affected, you could see it in his face.
Q: Has the team philosophy changed a lot?
A: We’re possibly more direct and more aggressive, but our playing pattern hasn’t changed. We went through many matches, so our confidence has grown.
Q: What do you think about Fernando Torres?
A: He’s good, very good. Had a bad scoring record, but he has scored and now that is over. He is a very important player. I am very fortunate to have him and Mata in the team, they help me a lot.
Q: What does Juan Mata bring to Chelsea?
A: Talent, imagination, creativity, surprise… He is very different from the players the English are used seeing here.
Q: Seems like today’s game is about two different styles?
A: Yes, very different. We both want to score in our own way, we are an offensive team, the difference is in intensity, it is a British thing. Here it is go, go, go… Is a very demanding rhythm where you’re always going forward, I’m sure Barcelona will find it hard to cope with.
Q: Is Sergio Busquets your reference?
A: Busquets is one of the best defensive midfielders in the world, he’s very smart tactically, and his very good positioning permits him to execute quick plays perfectly. He is a reference for anybody that plays the position.
Q: Where were you the day Andres Iniesta scored at Stamford Bridge?
A: Watching it on TV with a few teammates, not sure where but it wasn’t in La Masia


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