After 5 years, Petr Cech dons the Chelsea kit once again and returns in goal for The Blues
Cech came out of retirement in the summer and played his first game for Chelsea since 2015, what a moment it was
5 years ago, Petr Cech was saying an emotional goodbye to his beloved Chelsea fans, who already saw him as a club legend.
He had lost his number one starting spot at the club to the up and coming Thibaut Courtois, and he knew he had to leave in order to get his desired first team football.
Unfortunately the club that was offering it to him and was the easiest club to go to was Arsenal, but Cech is adored by Chelsea fans so much this became just small details.
He left as a legend, and always will be a legend.
Chelsea fans believed this was the last time they would get to see their hero play in a Chelsea shirt, but had an incline he would be back at the club in some capacity at some point.
And he was, last summer when he retired from playing he became Chelsea’s Technical Director, arriving alongside his former team mate Frank Lampard who took the reigns as boss.
Chelsea fans rejoiced again, Cech was back and he has already made a huge difference in helping convince and negotiate a number of top new signings for the club this summer.
Then in a dramatic turn of events, Chelsea quietly added Cech to their playing squad again this summer - bringing the legend out of retirement.
The announcement did arrive eventually, and the excitement began to bubble up, despite Chelsea playing it down as just a Covid-19 emergency addition, just in case.
Then, on Monday evening the impossible happened - Petr Cech played for Chelsea again.
Yes it was a Development match, but it still bought the surreal fairy-tale feelings back to Chelsea fans around the globe.
There he was, warming up donning the famous helmet once again.
His return was slippery initially; he gave away a corner making a bad pass in the early stages against Tottenham, which they scored the opener from.
However, he soon settled straight back in and showed confidence on the ball, coming for crosses, and his obvious influence and experience was a godsend at the back for the young Chelsea players.
There was a moment that Chelsea fans would be collectively smiling at. With no fans, you can hear things clear as daylight, and when the ball was hovering high in the air in the Chelsea box, everyone in the district would have heard Cech shouting ‘KEEEEEEPERSSSS!!’
Any player close moved the hell away, and Cech caught the ball with ease.
There was another moment when Danny Drinkwater stupidly got himself sent off from reacting to a bad challenge on him. Things kicked off, and it took Cech to come over and calm things down using all his experience and assertiveness.
He didn’t have a lot to do though all night as Chelsea went on to win the match 3-2, but it was a great little outing to dust off the cobwebs on the trusty gloves for the Chelsea legend, and you never know when he might be called upon next.
Morecombe in the FA Cup anyone? It’s possible, especially if Kepa Arrizabalaga leaves on loan in January as the whsipers suggest.
Cech played 90 minutes, helped beat Tottenham, and put Chelsea top of the PL2 League…. What a time to be alive!
C'est le meilleur de tous les temps.