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Chelsea keeper Cech: How I managed to outsmart Barcelona star Messi

Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech has enjoyed a dig at Barcelona star Lionel Messi.

Cech has this week brought up the fact that Messi simply could not score past him on the biggest stage, requiring many attempts to do so.

Cech reflected this week during an interview for Chelsea's match-day programme prior to their Champions League group stage clash with Rennes.

He said, "It took him a long time to score past me – 10 games in fact as I was an Arsenal player when he eventually did.

"He missed penalties, I made saves, he hit the post, but he never scored past me at Chelsea. It was a pleasure to keep a clean sheet against him.

"When he had the penalty in the Nou Camp in 2012, that was a defining moment."

Cech emerged as arguably the best goalkeeper in the world for a period during his Chelsea days, though admits he gave great thought to Messi's penalty technique.

Cech added: "I was thinking about what he could do, what he would do. So my strategy was to wait and wait until I could see where he was going to hit it.

"So when I moved the way he was going to strike the ball, he knew he had to go high to beat me - but he went too high and it struck the bar."

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Paul Vegas

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