Petr Cech was all smiles as he left Stamford Bridge last night, despite playing no part in Chelsea’s victory, but it would be understandable if the goalkeeper was hiding a few doubts.
Cech’s exclusion in favour of 41-year-old debutant Mark Schwarzer raised a few eyebrows before kick-off, considering this was not a dead rubber and that manager Jose Mourinho needed victory to ensure top spot.
The timing seemed significant considering Cech had made a key error during his side’s 3-2 defeat by Stoke on Saturday, which capped a calamitous week for Chelsea during which they had conceded seven goals in three matches.
Mourinho is certainly not afraid to leave established players out if they are not performing — just ask Ashley Cole, who made his first appearance for over five weeks in this routine victory over Steaua Bucharest.
The explanation from Mourinho regarding Cech’s omission was certainly plausible. He said: “We are all very happy for Mark. He deserves to play in the Champions League in a game that we needed to win. When I was speaking to Petr about that, we were remembering that I played Carlo Cudicini against Real Betis [in 2005] when we needed to win, not in a game where we were qualified.
“To play knowing you have to win lets the player know we trust him. It was because of that trust that we brought him [Schwarzer] here. Petr knows he will play on Saturday again [against Crystal Palace], Mark also knows that but it was a good feeling for all of us.”
The big difference between Cudicini’s selection back then and Schwarzer’s on this occasion is that the former was involved midway through the group phase when there were still games left to rectify any mistake. While Chelsea had already reached the last 16 of the competition before last night, they still needed a victory to guarantee first place and the prize of avoiding Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Real Madrid in Monday’s draw. Instead, they will have a potential tie against Galatasaray, AC Milan, Zenit St Petersburg, Olympiakos or Bayer Leverkusen.
There is no question that Cech remains Mourinho’s No1 for the rest of the season, yet the shadow of Thibaut Courtois continues to lurk ominously in the background.
The 21-year-old Belgian will also be involved in the last 16 of this season’s competition, although for Atletico Madrid, where he is spending the third successive year on loan from Chelsea. He is already rated as one of the best keepers in Europe and Chelsea know that a decision will soon have to be made over whether he will be given the opportunity to challenge Cech for a first-team place.
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Courtois’s contract runs out in 2016 and Standard Sport understands that the Belgium international has already turned down an extension, despite the club offering a sizeable increase in salary.
Barcelona have been pursuing him but Chelsea have placed a £30million price tag on his head to try to scare them off. However, his value will diminish the longer that contract remains unsigned and he has told Chelsea he will agree terms only if he is given a fair chance to battle Cech for a starting role.
Mourinho could have played himself in goal against Steaua, who have now gone a record 23 games without a win in the Champions League. A scrappy 11th-minute goal from Demba Ba secured the three points.
