As part of the banter between footballers, Petr Cech sent a cheeky dig to Lionel Messi over their rivalry when he still played for Chelsea.
When Lionel Messi was in his prime, Petr Cech was one of the few goalkeepers he struggled to score against. During his first years as one of Barcelona’s players, the Argentine was fortunate to score against many English clubs but not against Chelsea. The main reason for this was Petr Cech. A Czech Republic international who is considered amongst the best goalies in English football history.
Right before Chelsea faced Rennes, the goalkeeper coach for the Blues responded to the particular rivalry he had with Leo. In his response, Cech recalled the many great nights he had against FC Barcelona in the Champions League. In particular, Cech recalled the famous Champions League semi-final in 2012. This was also the year in which the Blues finally won the competition after so many attempts.
Cech has great memories against Leo Messi.
“It took him a long time to score past me – 10 games in fact as I was an Arsenal player when he eventually did,” Cech told the press via Goal. “He missed penalties, I made saves, he hit the post, but he never scored past me at Chelsea. It was a pleasure to keep a clean sheet against him. When he had the penalty in the Nou Camp in 2012, that was a defining moment.
“I was thinking about what he could do, what he would do. So my strategy was to wait and wait until I could see where he was going to hit it. So when I moved the way he was going to strike the ball, he knew he had to go high to beat me – but he went too high and it struck the bar.
“That game, in general, was huge. When you’re 2-0 down at the Nou Camp with 10 men and it’s still the first half, you’re thinking it’s going to be a long, long night. My friends who were at the game said after that they had discussed the one position they wouldn’t want to be in on a night like that and they agreed it was the goalkeeper. It could’ve got ugly as we’ve seen so often for teams in those situations at the Nou Camp against Barcelona.”
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