Chelsea legend John Terry famously turned goalkeeper on Oct 14, 2006, fans get nostalgic

Wednesday marked 14 years of Chelsea icon John Terry taking up goalkeeping duties for the Blues in a bizarre Premier League clash against Reading at the Madejski Stadium. On October 14, 2006, the London side famously earned a dramatic 1-0 win over Reading despite being down to nine men at the end of the game and had John Terry forced into an unfamiliar position in goal for the final few minutes of the clash. Earlier on Wednesday, the official Chelsea account on Twitter reminded fans of the time John Terry donned the goalkeeping gloves in order to lead his side to three points. 

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When John Terry played goalkeeper for Chelsea in a dramatic win over Reading

Chelsea had a tricky fixture against Reading on Matchday 8 of the 2006-07 Premier League campaign at the Madejski Stadium and the Blues were dealt an early blow when goalkeeper Petr Cech was subbed off just five minutes into the game. Cech suffered a nasty injury following a collision with Reading's Stephen Hunt in the first minute and was escorted to a hospital where it was later revealed that he had suffered a skull fracture. Italian shot-stopper Carlo Cudicini was subbed on to replace Cech and Chelsea took the lead just before half-time through an own goal from Ivar Ingimarsson. 

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The West London side were then reduced to 10-men when John Obi Mikel received his second yellow card of the game soon after the hour mark. Although Jose Mourinho's side held the lead into second-half stoppage time, there was another concern as substitute goalkeeper Cudicini also suffered a nasty injury during a clash with Ibrahim Sonko and the Italian left the stadium on a stretcher as well. Chelsea were only minutes away from the win, down to nine men and had no more substitutions remaining, but they needed an outfield player to take up goalkeeping duties until the final whistle.

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Amid all the chaos, in stepped defender John Terry, who decided to take the mantle upon himself and wear the keeping gloves until full-time. The defender was in unfamiliar territory but managed to calm the situation for Chelsea at the time when they needed it most. As Chelsea remembered John Terry stepping in between the sticks back in 2006, the Blues faithful were all praise for their iconic 'Captain. Leader. Legend'. 

One fan wrote, "John Terry!! how I wish we had you in our defence right now", while another added, "JT's keeping, still better than Kepa". A third wrote, "Best captain ever - John Terry." Terry joined Chelsea in 1998 and left the club in 2017 with five league titles, five FA Cups, three League Cups and one Champions League. Chelsea had a one-year stint with Aston Villa and retired from professional football in 2018. He is currently an assistant coach at Aston Villa.

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Image Credits - Chelsea Twitter