PETR CECH was able to read Mario Gomez’s mind in the 2012 Champions League final, claims the former Bayern Munich star.
The star came head-to-head in a famous penalty shoot-out Chelsea won to seal their first Champions League title.
The match ended 1-1 after extra-time and after Juan Mata missed Chelsea’s first penalty, Gomez had the chance to put Bayern 2-0 up in the shoot-out, as Philip Lahmn had already found the net from 12 yards.
Reflecting on his spot-kick, the striker revealed he changed his mind on which corner he would aim for.
It ended up working as he fired past Cech, but later discovered the goalkeeper knew his entire thought process leading up to the penalty, including the fact he changed his mind.
Gomez told Prime Video: “I put the ball down and look at Petr Cech, who’s standing there, he was a monster.
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“I put the ball down and it was clear to me, I’m going to hit it into one corner, powerfully. I have to hit powerfully otherwise he will get to it.
“I walk back, turn around and think ‘no, he’ll save it’.
“On the way to the ball I changed my mind and went for the other corner.
“The mad thing about this story is afterwards I have doping control. Petr Cech is sitting with me in doping control.
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“He’s completely shy, reserved, and eventually he says to me ‘Hey, what was with the penalty?’
“I look at him and say ‘eh?’ Then he says to me ‘you wanted to shoot towards the other corner first. You totally confused me. I knew you were going for the other corner.’
“He pretty much said what happened in me. That’s brutal. That made me realise again what a great goalkeeper he is, who also read the players and the players’ body language.”
Cech, 41, appeared on Sky Sports Monday Night Football club this week where he claimed Chelsea will have to wait at least two years until becoming title contenders again.
He also spoke about Jose Mournho’s media nous and his ability to keep his team focused on winning trophies by misleading the press and making them focus on the issues he wanted.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
