Petr Cech has made headlines in recent weeks for being included by Frank Lampard on the Premier's list of 25 with Chelsea. The veteran goalkeeper (38 years old) says he is “ready” and “100 percent” if the occasion requires it, but, obviously, all past times were better. And more, when his official retirement so far occurred in 2018-19 (he spent his last four years at Arsenal). From that golden age has been remembered in the run-up to Rennes' visit to Stamford Bridge (3-0), a stage in which they starred in great duels, with great players, in the top continental competition. Of all of them, the Czech boasted of one in particular, the one he maintained over the years with Leo Messi.
“It took him a long time to score me. Ten games, actually, being already an Arsenal player when he did. He missed penalties, I made saves, he hit the post, but he never scored me at Chelsea. It was a pleasure to keep a clean sheet. before him”, the one from Pilsen remembered proudly. Although there is a moment of which he keeps a special memory. “When he got the penalty at the Camp Nou in 2012, that was the defining moment. I was thinking what to do, what to do. So my strategy was to wait until I could see where I was going to hit. So when I moved on the direction in which he was going to shoot, I knew I had to hit him up if he wanted to beat me, but he went too far and hit the crossbar, “he explained.
Historic night
The night in question is none other than the 2012 Champions semi-finals, in which Chelsea finally drew at the Blaugrana fiefdom, thanks to a final goal from Fernando Torres, and this would lead them to the final, which would beat Bayern and become the first and only, for the moment, the club's Champions. Busquets and Iniesta overtook Barça, which also had Terry sent off at 37 '. In the first leg, the 'blue' team won 1-0, so the goals from Ramires and the Spaniard, along with the penalty missed by Messi, completed the game.
“The game, in general, was tremendous. When you go 2-0 down with ten men and you are still in the first half, you think it is going to be a very long night … My friends who were in the clash said after it that if there was a position in which they would not have liked to be that night, it was in goal “, completed the memory of one of his most golden nights as a footballer.