PETR CECH
For the past 10 years Petr Cech has been the undisputed number one between the sticks at Stamford Bridge. At the age of 22, very young for a goalkeeper, Cech was brought into Chelsea to become the understudy for Italian goaltender, Carlo Cudicini, the then undisputed number 1. In 2004 when Cech was bought, Jose Mourinho also joined the team for the first time after having won the Champions League with Porto. Once the 2004 season kicked off Cudicini suffered a terrible elbow injury and this allowed Cech to prove his mettle in the Premier League. Cech’s performances exceeded expectations and since then he has been the undisputed number 1 between the sticks, except when he suffered a terrible head injury in 2006, which saw Cudicini return until Cech was fit. Since the head injury Cech has had to wear a helmet to prevent further damage.
Last season Cech set a club record of 209 clean sheets, surpassing the great Peter Bonetti. Cech has also won a plethora of trophies since joining the Blues: three Premier League Trophies; four FA Cups; three League Cups; one UEFA Europa League and one UEFA Champions League. He has received plenty of personal accolades since: he has been named in the World All-stars football team of the Year in 2007 by the International Sports Press Association; best goalkeeper in the Champions League in 2004-05, 2006-07 and 2007-08; World’s Best Goalkeeper 2005 by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics; the Premier League in 2004-05; the team of the tournament at EURO 2004; the Champions League team of the tournament 2004-05; the Golden Glove Award for the goalkeeper who kept the most clean sheets in the Premier League in the 2004-05 and 2009-10 seasons; Premier League record holder for the number of clean sheets during a single season (24) and the number of consecutive minutes without conceding a goal (1025), surpassed by Edwin van der Sar in 2009 (1311 minutes); Czech Footballer of the Year in 2005 and 2008; Golden Ball Trophy for the Best Czech Footballer in the 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2009-10 seasons; best goalkeeper in the French League in 2003-04 (by the magazine “France Football”) and the goalkeeper of the tournament in the 1999 European U-19 Championship.
It will take a special kind of player to successfully dethrone the heroic vice-captain, Petr Cech.
Enter
THIBAUT COURTOIS
Talented, outstanding, superb and agile are just some of the adjectives that can used to describe the young Belgian goalkeeper. Even as a youngster at Genk his performances were amazing. In the 2010-2011 season he was essential to Genks title winning squad; he won the goalkeeper of the year award in the Belgian League, Player of the Year Award for Genk and kept 14 clean sheets all at the age of 18. Since joining Atletico Madrid on loan, his growth as a goalkeeper can only be described as astronomical. He might be 22 years old, but the knowledge he has acquired is beyond his years. In his time in the Spanish capital he has won the Copa del Rey, the UEFA Europa League, the UEFA Super Cup, which he won against his parent club, Chelsea and the most important one of all, La Liga.
Information via the Petr Cech official website(http://www.petr-cech.com/About-Peter/Player-profile/mr-mu.article.aspx)
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