Petr Cech says breaking his leg as a 10-year-old was a defining moment in his life - because it kick-started his goalkeeping career.
The Czech Republic international was a midfielder when he started playing football as a boy, but had to deputise in goal when his team’s regular keeper missed a match.
Having impressed between the sticks, Cech would alternate between the two positions until he suffered his injury.
"I was an ice hockey goalkeeper and when I started playing football, I was a midfielder or a left winger"
“I never thought of being a goalkeeper,” the goalkeeper told the Arsenal Magazine. “I was an ice hockey goalkeeper and when I started playing football, I was a midfielder or a left winger.
“Occasionally at the end of training sessions, when you had a free game with no ‘keeper, where the deepest player acted as a goalkeeper, sometimes I went into goal because I wanted to see the difference between a big goal and a small ice hockey goal.
“My coach saw me a few times and one day, our goalkeeper didn’t come for a game. We had no ‘keeper and somebody had to play there, but nobody really wanted to. He pointed to me and said ‘I’ve seen you a few times in goal and you’ve been doing quite well. You should try it.’”
“I said I would do it for one match and we ended up having a very good game. The next day, when I came for the training session, the goalkeeping coach took me and said that I should stay with him.
“But then my coach didn’t want to listen to that. For about a year, I was playing outfield or in goal depending on the opponents.
“Then when I was about 10 I broke my leg quite badly and the recovery took time. I couldn’t run and I had pain for quite a long time.
“Being in goal means you can sit, you can lie, you can catch balls and you can still work and train. That made the biggest difference in my life because that moment defined that I stayed in goal.”
READ THE FULL INTERVIEW WITH PETR IN THIS MONTH'S ARSENAL MAGAZINE. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO.
Petr Cech adorns the cover of the Arsenal Magazine
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