Petr Cech makes honest admission about facing Wayne Rooney – ‘nightmare’

Petr Cech has admitted that he came up against Wayne Rooney, was a “nightmare” – but it was something he enjoyed.

The former goalkeeper of Chelsea and Arsenal regularly confronted a number of times with the legendary attacker during his long Premier League career. The two fourth 27 times, Rooney claimed ten victories, while Cech had the record better with 11 successes.

And the ex-manchester united man had a brilliant goalscores record against the two former teams of the goalkeeper. He scored nine career goals versus Chelsea, as well as 15 against Arsenal – although Cech was not in goal for a large majority of those competitions.

The 42-year-old is now open about what it was like to face Rooney. Speaking with Amazon Prime, he said: “Wayne Rooney was the one, as when we played United in the competition, he was always the one. I was like” Oh, come on, this is a nightmare “because he can chip you from the halfway and he is richly, he is everywhere.

“He keeps coming, he keeps insisting and never gives you half a second. So it was always the preparation, even from the goalkeeper coach.

“He always said,” You know we are playing Rooney, he can do everything. “I said,” Yes, unfortunately. ” I said, “I can't cheat” because he will see that.

“But there are many ways you can play with people, but in general, when you play against the top players, they will always find a way and it will be a challenge.

“This is what I liked about the Champions League of the Premier League because you play against the best players, and it also brings the best out of you.”

Both Rooney and Cech have retired from football in recent years. The former goalkeeper hung his gloves in 2019 after a spell with Arsenal.

A few years later, Rooney followed a season in the championship with Derby County, of whom the manager then became. Since then he has coached with DC United, Birmingham and Plymouth – left the last pass in December last year.

In the meantime, Cech has chosen not to go to management. Instead, he has changed from sport that has become a goalkeeper in ice hockey, his most recent team is the Oxford City stars.

He had a short spell with former side Chelsea as their technical and performance advisor, but left in June 2022 after the takeover of Todd Boehly at Stamford Bridge.