Peter Henry
English Football will wave goodbye to one of the greatest goalkeepers it has ever seen after Arsenal shot stopper Petr Cech announced his decision to retire at the end of the season.
During his time at Chelsea, Cech was by far and away the best goalkeeper in the top-flight, and holds the Premier League record for the most clean sheets with 202.
Here’s 10 photo’s that show the evolution of his outstanding career.
A young Cech played made his name in his homeland with Sparta Prague.
Before moving to the French League with Rennes in 2002.
In 2004 the talented young ‘keeper became part of the Russian revolution at Chelsea.
Under the guidance of Jose Mourinho, Cech would immediately begin to show his class and won consecutive Premier League titles during his first two seasons at Stamford Bridge.
In 2006 he would fracture his skull after a sickening clash with Irish midfielder Stephen Hunt, and would have to wear the scrum cap we have all become accustomed to seeing him wear thereafter.
Cech won the first of his four FA Cups after Chelsea beat Manchester United in the 2007 final.
He would also win the EFL Cup three times with the Blues.
Here the Czech ‘keeper saves a spot kick from Bayern Munich’s Bastian Schweinsteiger in the 2012 Champions League final in the Allianz Arena.
Chelsea won the Champions League after Cech saved three penalties in the shoot out and he had been immense throughout the Stamford Bridge outfits run to the final. Here he is being held aloft by his teammates, with old big ears in his hands.
In 2015 he was controversially allowed to join Arsenal after losing his place at Chelsea to Thibaut Courtois. Where he won another FA Cup, after the Gunners ironically beat Chelsea in the final.
Cech is the Czech Repulic’s all-time leading appearance maker, with 124 caps.
After 20 years as a pro Cech finally decided to hang up his gloves at the end of the season.
— Petr Cech (@PetrCech) January 15, 2019
Petr Cech has kept 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣ @premierleague clean sheets – the most of any goalkeeper in the PL era 🙌@PetrCech: LEGEND ⭐️ pic.twitter.com/g25txE7KwO
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) January 15, 2019