Chelsea football chief Petr Cech says he enjoyed the atmosphere of Christmas football in England.

Writing for chelseafc.com, Cech said: "Obviously Christmas is a completely different feeling for the players and the staff who are directly involved, but it has a special atmosphere. You can feel it at the stadium that people are more relaxed and enjoying the mood. It's a really special couple of weeks.

"One thing that was usually nice is that my family and my parents came over to visit for Christmas, so I'd have them in the stadium as well. It's not that often they all came and watched me play, and then I could spend some time with them, so it was nice.

"Of course I remember the first Christmas I was in England, because we played Aston Villa on Boxing Day that year too, but luckily it was at home. The advantage to that is you don't have to travel to Birmingham on Christmas Day, because then you see your family in the morning and have lunch, then you pack your stuff and leave to the hotel. While everyone else is enjoying the festive mood, you go to prepare for the game.

"That first year we played Villa on Boxing Day and then we were away in Portsmouth on 28 December and at Liverpool on New Year's Day, so from Boxing Day onwards for us there was literally no rest. We arrived in Liverpool on New Year's Eve and I remember everybody said 'let's meet at midnight and have a little toast at least'. Nobody came! There were almost no players because everybody was knackered and so happy to be in bed that we ended up doing nothing."