Edouard Mendy has stamped his name into the Champions League record books with three impressive feats.
From being unemployed in 2014 to a Champions League winner today, Edouard Mendy has had one hell of a journey.
The 29-year-old has just completed his first season with Chelsea and has proved he was worth every cent of the €24 million the club spent to sign him from Rennes back in September.
Mendy has already kept 25 clean sheets in 44 appearances and again kept another blank on Saturday to help the Blues beat Manchester City 1-0 in the Champions League final.
In doing so, he set the following three stats:
Most clean sheets in a debut campaign
Nine clean sheets and only three goals conceded in 12 Champions League games is an incredible feat.
According to Opta, Mendy has become the first goalkeeper to achieve this in his first-ever campaign in the competition’s history.
9 – Édouard Mendy’s nine clean sheets for Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League this season is the most ever by a goalkeeper in their debut campaign in the competition. Wall. #UCLFinal pic.twitter.com/BdVrIGOj3M
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) May 29, 2021
First African goalkeeper to win the Champions League
Chelsea’s success in Porto also ensured Mendy became the first African goalkeeper to win the European title in the Champions League era.
Zimbabwe’s Bruce Grobbelaar was the last African shot-stopper to win the competition in 1984 with Liverpool, while it was still known as the ‘European Cup’.
30th May 1984 : Bruce Grobbelaar became the first African GK to win the European Cup when Liverpool beat Roma on penalties
29th May 2021 : Edouard Mendy became the 1st African GK to win the Champions League as Chelsea beat Man City 1-0 in the Final#Chelsea#UCLFinal #Mendy pic.twitter.com/p3LhnPJXeS
— Arnav Singh (@Arnavv43) May 30, 2021
Equals Canizares and Navas for a prestigious record
Mendy, as previously mentioned, has registered nine clean sheets in this season’s Champions League.
Santiago Canizares (Valencia – 2000/01) and Keylor Navas (Real Madrid – 2015/16) are the only two goalkeepers to have ever matched this feat before in Champions League history.
Only three goalkeepers have kept 9+ clean sheets in a single #UCL campaign:
🇪🇸 Santiago Canizares (2001)
🇨🇷 Keylor Navas (2016)
🇸🇳 Edouard Mendy (2021)Reminder: This is Mendy’s debut UCL season. pic.twitter.com/CZS1coJqLh
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) May 29, 2021
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