Petr Cech will be back between the sticks at Stamford Bridge on Saturday when Chelsea Legends take on Liverpool. It was against the same opponents in 2007 that Cech made his return from a life-threatening injury and for the first time wore the headguard that would become his trademark. It now sits proudly in the Chelsea Museum, and here we revisit that dramatic chapter…

Nineteen years ago this month, Chelsea travelled to play newly-promoted Reading at the Madejski Stadium.

The occasion was overshadow within a minute of kick-off. Petr Cech's life was left in the balance after a collision with Stephen Hunt led to a depressed skull fracture. The 24-year-old was rushed to the Royal Berkshire hospital before being transferred to the specialist brain-injury unit at Oxford's Radcliffe Infirmary, where he underwent emergency surgery. Two metal plates were fitted in his skull.


Cech can’t remember anything of the incident or the three days that followed it. But, following successful surgery, Cech’s focus turned to playing football again.

‘Nobody knew if I would be able to come back,’ he said. ‘There were plenty of questions, and not many answers. In my head I had to prepare for the end of my career. That made me see things in a different way.

‘Plan A was to do everything I could to come back. That was my target. But I had a plan B in the back of my head and I was preparing for the worst if I couldn’t come back. If it wasn’t possible, it wasn’t possible.’

The Chelsea medical team, led by Dr Bryan English (whose quick thinking at the Madejski Stadium helped save Cech’s life), worked with the goalkeeper on a flexible recovery programme.


‘If I could do three days in one, I would; if I couldn’t do anything for two days because my brain wouldn’t take anything, then I wouldn’t.

‘I found my way through it, and with every week and month I was getting better and better. Suddenly I realised how fit and strong I felt because of all the work I’d done.’

The bone in Cech’s skull took 12 weeks to heal. Before it did, he was able to train on his own but needed to protect his head. ‘That was how we found the helmet!’ he laughed. It would become his signature.


Just a couple of days after returning to full training, Mourinho asked Cech if he wanted to play.

‘I said I did. It was against all the advice I got from people around me, because they thought mentally I should let the season go and prepare for the next one.

‘But I just felt I was so fit and happy to come back that the right thing would be to return; 105 days or whatever it was after the surgery, I played a game in Liverpool.’

- You can watch Cech, Terry, Hazard, Diego Costa and co play for Chelsea Legends at Stamford Bridge this Saturday!

Chelsea’s 2006/07 campaign was hampered throughout by injuries, but Cech’s return in the January provided manager Jose Mourinho with a welcome boost.

‘The best goalkeeper in the world is ready to play,’ Mourinho declared ahead of the trip to Anfield, going on to describe Cech as a ‘£50 million player’.


Three days before we played Liverpool, Cech had a final appointment with the neurosurgeon who conducted his operation. He was satisfied the Czech’s injury had healed from a surgical point of view.

Then, on the eve of the game, referee Rob Styles approved the protective headgear Cech had been wearing in training and intended to use in match to offer extra protection to his skull.

The FA's head of senior referee development Neale Barry said: 'As headguards are not part of the players' basic compulsory equipment as set out in the laws of the game, it's essential that they are safe to wear.

'This headguard is soft in construction with padded areas of dense foam all over to protect the head of the wearer. It covers the ears but there's a hole on each side so that his hearing is unaffected.

'The helmet could cause no risk to the safety of either the wearer or any team-mate or opponent of his whilst being worn. It has a Velcro under chin strap and no extraordinary areas on the helmet that could cause unnatural deviation of the ball if it were to either strike the helmet or if the wearer were to head the ball.'

Cech’s headguard was identical to the ones worn by rugby union players deployed in the scrum. It was initially manufactured by Canterbury, a New Zealand-based sports company focused on rugby. You can see it in the Chelsea Museum.


On its first outing, a makeshift Chelsea side - featuring Michael Essien and Paulo Ferreira at centre-back - were beaten 2-0 at Anfield. Despite the result, Cech was pleased to be back. Choosing such a high-profile fixture to return in was typically brave.

'There was a lot of pressure on me because I have not played for such a long time,' Cech said afterwards.

'This was a big game and everyone was waiting to see how I would play. At this point I can be satisfied because I didn't make any mistakes and I felt comfortable in the goal.

'Of course I am disappointed in the result, but the feeling for me is a little different because for me it feels like a personal victory.

‘The decision whether to play or not was very difficult because I have only been playing this week. But I decided to play because it is a very big game and I wanted to be there on the pitch as soon as possible.’


Later in his career, Cech said he felt ‘completely normal’ that day at Anfield, and was mostly concentrated on picking up match habits again after three months without playing. He had no hesitation or fear in diving at opponents’ feet. Wearing a helmet in a full stadium was a new experience, that felt like his head was ‘in a tumble dryer’, but he soon adapted, and would wear it for the remaining 12-and-a-half years of his career.

The incident changed Cech’s life forever, and also led to a tightening of regulations in the Premier League. On matchday every club is now obliged to have a doctor in the dugout, and there must be two paramedics on the sidelines, along with an ambulance on standby. He believes those new rules saved Fabrice Muamba’s life when he went into cardiac arrest at White Hart Lane in 2012.

With his skull mended, Cech soon hit top form again. After that loss at Liverpool, he kept clean sheets in his subsequent eight league appearances, earning him the Premier League Player of the Month award for March 2007. The season might have ended without a league title for the first time since Cech joined Chelsea, but he did have his hands on the FA Cup after keeping champions Man United at bay in the new Wembley showpiece.


‘When you come back from a career-threatening or life-threatening injury, you don’t think about pressure,’ reflected Cech.

‘I just enjoyed every moment. I suddenly realised every game could be my last one. So whenever I played from then on, I enjoyed it because I had another game to play.

‘I was so happy the journey hadn’t ended in Reading. It was a positive feeling and played a part in my recovery. Every game felt like medicine for me.

‘Leading to the end of the season and the FA Cup final, it felt like there was no other outcome than us winning it. I was so positive. It was a great joy and satisfaction. It was the first FA Cup we won together as a group, and it felt like the right end to the season.’

Cech would go on to enjoy plenty more silverware during the rest of his time at Stamford Bridge, as well as becoming Chelsea's record holder of clean sheets. His tale of fear, bravery and resilience was complete.

- You can watch Cech, Terry, Hazard, Diego Costa and co play for Chelsea Legends at Stamford Bridge this Saturday!

- Our award-winning museum is open seven days a week!