Chelsea legend Petr Cech has come up against some of the best strikers in world football in his time, but caused some surprise when he named one of his toughest tests.
Cech has gone down as one of the top Premier League players of all time, already being inducted into the Hall of Fame alongside a number of Chelsea alumni.
There is even belief from some that he could still compete at the highest level now. John Terry believes Cech could still play in the Premier League despite being retired for several years.
The Czech international has made sensational saves to deny some of the best strikers football has ever seen, including Thierry Henry, Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Petr Cech names surprising ‘hardest’ striker he ever faced
However, when it comes to a physical matchup, it is someone very different who he sees as his toughest challenge.
Cech told ‘Golf Life’ that he had some serious battles with Kevin Nolan when he was with Bolton.
He said: “When we played Bolton, when you had Kevin Nolan, every cross, long ball, when I came we were hitting the s— out of each other. They were hard to play against, because they were not afraid to give it to you, and receive as well.”
Nolan played for Bolton between 1999 and 2009, before having stints at the likes of Newcastle and West Ham, eventually retiring in 2016.
Petr Cech’s staggering record vs Bolton
Bolton’s stadium was a very happy hunting ground for Chelsea during this time. It was the venue where they confirmed their first league title in 50 years in 2005.
Cech faced the opposition 15 times, keeping nine clean sheets across that time. Chelsea won 12 of the games, drawing the other three.
It was not an irregular occurence for sides to be completely shut out by Cech, with him having the most clean sheets in Premier League history with 202.
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