Crespo plays from the heart

Argentine striker Hernan Crespo is relaxed in London and invigorated by the Chelsea revolution.

He spoke to Ivan Hernandez ahead of today's clash with Leeds

THE CONTRAST could not have been more marked. The last time I spoke with Hernan Crespo, the Argentinian striker was holding back tears as he boarded a train in the small coastal Japanese town of Hirono, after his country's shock elimination in the first round of the 2002 World Cup finals.

Now he's a relaxed, happy and optimistic man full of the joys of playing football at Stamford Bridge.

"Am I growing? Yes, there's no doubt. I'm living the way I would always have wanted to live," he said. "We can talk about the money but that's two seconds, I don't even sit down, I say yes, no, and that's that. I play because of the passion I have for football," Crespo said.

"When I score a goal I don't shout 'Ah, afterwards I'm going to ask for more money'; there's no way."

Crespo loves the premier league and with no commitments with the Argentina team until late March he can put all his energy into his new club.

"The league is a different style [of football] but at the same time fascinating," Crespo said. "It's great to see the crowd get into the match and they give you everything.

"There's a dynamic in the matches. It's great to play in and, at the same time, to live it the way the fans do, because they know that if you missed a goal you haven't killed anyone, you missed a goal because you're human.

"You can feel the crowd, and when you score and they go 'Yeaahhh' it's something incredible, beautiful.

"The truth is they live the game the way it should be, as a spectacle, a sport."

Crespo, who grew up in the Argentine game where tricking opponents is regarded as an art form, said he also admired the code of fair play.

"I like it because they're straight, they go for the ball as if it was the last but they get up and shake hands. They repudiate cheating and I like that because I like clean play."

However, he admires the clever play of Argentina colleagues such as Pablo Aimar and Andres D'Alessandro, or new Chelsea team mate Joe Cole. "There's also cheek, that's also nice, but when you exaggerate one way or the other that bothers me."

Crespo said he was attracted to Chelsea by the club's ambitions following their takeover by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, who spent close to $200 million on strengthening the squad in the pre-season.

"I'd like to be able to write a small part of the history of this revolution because this there is a serious project," he said.

He said Being the team's leading scorer in the domestic championship or the Champions League would be a contribution but his eyes were on a first league title in Europe after missing out with Parma, Lazio and Inter.

"Being the top scorer is not the main thing but it can be an objective, why not? It would be satisfying after finishing top scorer in Argentina and Italy."

All that, however, is the easy part of Crespo's new life in England because settling into a non-Latin country is proving harder; what with learning the language and encountering sorting out everyday problems.

"Going into a service station, for example, and saying 'Can you pump up the tyres because they look a bit low to me', right," he says with a shrug and resigned grin.

Crespo has moved into a house in the southwest London district of Barnes on the banks of the River Thames with his long-time Italian partner, Alexia.

At least he had the experience of a previous big move when he left River Plate for Parma in Italy in a $4 million transfer in 1996.

"My difficulty [in Italy] was on the playing side. I had to get more used to that than the social side. Here it's the other way round. I wasn't worried about playing here.

"I'm convinced that if you can play well in Italy, be the player who makes a difference there, you can play anywhere in the world."

At an international level, Crespo believes Argentina's road to redemption after their 2002 World Cup failure will be long and hard but worth the effort.

"A new group is taking shape, with players with new styles the style of play, [the coach's] intention is the same. (But) Suddenly we have to play a match with two link-men like (Andres) D'Alessandro and (Pablo) Aimar and that has not happened to us before.

"People are always going to want Argentina to play better."

Crespo would go anywhere and do anything to wear the Argentina shirt. "You're far from home, I put the Argentina shirt on, it's the flag, which you're going to defend and that makes you proud, a feeling that goes beyond everything. You can bear anything. You do it with your heart.

"You always miss it. My [domestic] last match was the Libertadores Cup final, that famous match of the 2-0 score and my two goals. I was left with the thorn of not carrying on," he said, hinting at a slight regret at that time that he was leaving.

"On the other hand, I think I left a good image [of myself]. The truth is that I'd like to return to River, sincerely. But today it looks difficult for many reasons that are more than obvious.

"I don't know if I'd be comfortable to, for example, be sitting here talking to you and leave my car outside the door," he said.

Argentina is trying to recover from its worst economic crisis; when the country imploded two years ago. Crime is rife, especially robbery and kidnappings, which have directly affecting footballers.

"When I left that didn't happen. I think I lived in the last great period, I left in '96, I think the mess started around '99.

"It hurts me immensely, immensely. I thought it was terrible two years ago but I think that slowly, slowly, it's getting better."