Lauded as being one of the finest goalkeepers in football history, Cech was a legend of the Premier League with a host of records in the top flight of English football. With also over a hundred caps for the Czech Republic national team, we take a look at some of the greatest quotes about Petr Cech.
Now an ice hockey player, Cech competed in over 500 domestic football league matches and won over a dozen major trophies with Chelsea and Arsenal.
Playing regular first team football before the age of 20, Cech impressed with the number of clean sheets kept, and soon made his way to top London side Chelsea, where he spent 11 successful seasons and played in 333 top flight league games.
The list of achievements was substantial, with four Premier League, four FA Cup, one Champions League, one Europa League, and three League Cup titles. After four seasons with Arsenal, Cech retired in 2019, having broken many records in the number of matches played without conceding a goal. One such statistic was going over a 1000 minutes without conceding a goal in his first season in English football.
Not surprisingly perhaps, he was also a prolific member of the Czech Republic national team with a record 124 international appearances in 15 years. Cech represented the team in four successive European Championship competitions.
Tall, agile, and with great all-round abilities, Cech is now a technical advisor at his former Stamford Bridge home, having also taken up the sport of ice hockey as a goaltender for an English team based near to London.
Petr Cech
“In general he’s a very intelligent player. You can talk with him about almost every topic. And I think what he really needs is a challenge, to do something that is tough, is difficult but also can really challenge him.”
Karel Haering (football journalist)
“I’ve had the privilege to work with him, I class him as a good mate and he’s an incredible professional…..He stands big…..”
Mark Schwarzer (former Chelsea team-mate)
“…..he’s played with good performances…..Petr has big experience and big quality. He’s started the season very well…..he showed us that he’s very good and continuing to work hard with this spirit every day.”
Unai Emery (Arsenal manager)
“He (Cech) is getting to the best age for a goalkeeper. I have experienced it myself, when all of a sudden physique comes together with experience. The best years are still ahead of him.”
Jens Lehmann (former Arsenal player)
“Petr is almost 10 years playing at the top and there has been clean sheet after clean sheet…..I think probably next year he will beat the record of the Premier League. He becomes a historic figure in the Premier League…..”
Jose Mourinho (Chelsea manager)
“Petr Cech has been brilliant to do what he’s done, he’s one of the best goalkeepers I’ve seen. His record speaks for itself…..I admire him greatly, he’s been incredible…..He is relatively young and could still go on to break more and more records…..he’s been brilliant. He’s a fantastic person. When I first met him he was a real gentleman…..he is always lovely, very courteous and always eager to say hello. He’s a very genuine person.”
Peter Bonetti (former Chelsea player)
“Pete has been one of the best goalkeepers for many, many years…..He’s unbelievable, particularly in the year we won the Champions League…..and how much he saved us. I don’t think he got enough recognition for it on a world scale…..nobody was in Pete’s class that year.”
Frank Lampard (former Chelsea team-mate)
“…..his will to work hard, his will to improve, to push himself – and especially his hunger to win…..I think he belongs among the best three Czech players ever…..time will tell us how successful and extraordinary a player Petr Cech was. He’s the last one from the famous generation who played in top, top clubs.”
Karel Haering
“I have never seen a save like that…..I didn’t believe it was true. I didn’t believe it was possible to save it.”
John Carew (playing for Norway versus Czech Republic)
“Petr did a good job defensively, he intervened in one or two situations and he saved the game for us.”
Guus Hiddink (Chelsea manager after draw versus Barcelona)
“For me Petr Cech is the best goalkeeper in the Premier League and probably has been for the last few years.”
Mark Schwarzer
“He was just so smart too, just the way he talks, the way he handled media. Not only about soccer obviously everyone knows his skills, his concentration, he’s got the cleanest sheets in the history of the Premier League…..I think he’s a great role model for everyone…..how he was dominating the game over a lot years and he’s been playing a high level for a lot of years. I think he’s one of the greatest goalkeepers.”
Tomas Satoransky (Czech basketball player)
“Man saved three pens and run into me like I’m a legend…..every time I think of Chelsea winning the Champions League, it is for this man.”
Didier Drogba (former Chelsea team-mate)
“Yes of course. When you look at what he has achieved – consistency is always the most difficult thing in life.”
Arsene Wenger (Arsenal manager)
“…..it is all about him. All about his numbers, his performances, his clean sheets, his titles and his professionalism.”
Jose Mourinho (former Chelsea manager)
“The best goalkeeper with his feet? Pepe Reina. In the air I’d say Neuer. With his hands: Casillas. The best overall I’d say is Cech.”
Gianluigi Buffon (Italian goalkeeper)
“…..Premier League’s best-ever goalkeeper”
Alan Tyers (journalist)
“I work every day with Petr Cech and he’s great to have around…..helps out sometimes with our goalkeepers and I think it would have been fun to have coached him as a player…..such fantastic winning mentalities…..so focused and dedicated…..an asset to any team.”
Thomas Tuchel (Chelsea manager)