Cech bemoans blunder

Usually solid keeper gifts Turkey leveller

Last updated: 16th June 2008

Petr Cech woe Turkey v Czech Republic

Cech: Made blunder

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Czech Republic and Chelsea goal-keeper Petr Cech says he is glad his season is over after suffering another disappointment in the Euro 2008 finals.

His comments come after the usually solid keeper blundered to help the Turks to progress out of Group A at the expense of the Czechs.

He fumbled a simple cross three minutes from time to allow Nihat Kahveci a tap-in to level the scores at 2-2 with three minutes to go.

The striker then added a superb third in the dying seconds to hand Turkey an unlikely 3-2 win after they had been trailing 2-0 with just 15 minutes to go.

A disappointed Cech said: "The only positive thing about this season is that it's over.

Mistake

"When you make a mistake, you have to admit it. ... It was my mistake that decided that we have to go home.

"The ball was all the sudden too far away from me and as I tried to control it landed just in front of Nihat," Cech added.

"Football is played by 11 players and unfortunately, every time it happens that some do well and some do worse."

The Euro disappointment comes just a month after Chelsea lost the UEFA Champions League final in a penalty shootout against Manchester United.

And prior to that, the goal-keeper endured an injury hell which kept him on the sidelines for weeks

Firstly he strained a muscle in his side just before Christmas and then missed nine games because of an ankle injury.

He then saw his comeback postponed after suffering a training ground collision with teammate Tal Ben Haim which left him needing surgery to repair a facial injury.

Unbelievable

Cech bemoaned: "The season was unbelievable, just bad luck after bad luck.

"Whenever I happened to recover I was hit again by a disappointment from another injury, a disappointment from the defeat in the (Champions League) final.

"This is even worse because it was me who made a mistake."

But the keeper is now looking to the future, saying: "I hope that my bad luck is over.

"I'm looking forward to the next season with thousands of new challenges."