Upset at seeing how Chelsea treated her son, Juan Cuadrado’s mother reveals she prayed every day that he would be allowed to return to Juventus throughout last summer.

“Chelsea? He kept smiling but I could see he was off,” Marcela Cuadrado told Gazzetta dello Sport. “It was a difficult period for him, the toughest of his career. This summer I was praying every day that he’d go back to Juve.

“I knew he’d get back to being the same as always in Turin. It’s a great group, and that’s why Juan wanted to come back. The fact there are a lot of other South Americans helps.

“He has a very strong link with the other Colombians who are in Italy, he often sees the Milanese [Carlos] Bacca and [Jeison] Murillo, and he can quite easily go and see [Luis] Muriel in Genoa, or he can come to us.

“His goal against Inter? When I saw the ball go in I thought ‘finally’. I had been waiting to see him celebrate. It was exciting, a beautiful goal. After the game I just hugged him and said ‘you were great’.”