Édouard Mendy kept his clean sheet with Chelsea in the Champions League final against Manchester City on Saturday 29 May. With the Blues’ 1-0 victory, the goalkeeper reached an extraordinary peak in his career. Because the former Rennais has a lot to do with this European coronation obtained in Porto.
The story of Édouard Mendy is beginning to become well known. In 2015, 23, his modest career came to a standstill and he had to knock on the door of Pôle Emploi to receive unemployment benefits. Six years later, the goalkeeper is European champion. While Manchester City got favorites, the Chelsea Blues won in the Champions League final on Saturday (1-0).
Stronger than Bruce Grobbelaar
This C1 rewards the irresistible path for the Senegalese since 2017-2018, the season of his Ligue 2 outburst in Reims. After two successful seasons at Rennes, Édouard Mendy arrived at Chelsea at the start of the 2020-2021 season. And it did not take long for him to release Kepa Arrizabalaga and to settle in the cage of the Blues.
Well helped by a solid defense, No. 16 was not too threatened Cityzens on Saturday. The latter framed only one attempt. But the lion’s 1.97m relieved Chelsea when needed. Ex-Rennais was very safe when he conquered Sergio Agüero’s dangerous center, when Skyblues rushed to the attack (85th).
Édouard Mendy is just the second African goalkeeper to play in a Champions League final. The first was Bruce Grobbelaar with Liverpool in 1984 (1-1, 4-2 victory against AS Roma) and 1985 (1-0 defeat against Juventus in the dramatic final played in Heysel). And unlike his Zimbabwean elder, the Senegalese did not concede a goal in the final.
“A daydream”
The goalkeeper’s impenetrability in this Champions League has been impressive. He conceded just three goals in the whole competition: against his former club Rennes in hens (by Serhou Guirassy, 2-1 victory), against Porto in the second stage quarter-final (by Mehdi Taremi, 1-0 defeat) and against Real Madrid in the first stage (by Karim Benzema, final result 1-1). In total, Édouard Mendy signed 9 clean sheets (matches without conceding a goal), an unmatched performance for a new goalkeeper and was achieved only by Santiago Canizares with Valencia (2000-2001) and Keylor Navas with Real Madrid (2015-2016) d ‘after The Team.
In the history of Senegalese football, Édouard Mendy goes with Salif Diao, discreet but real winner of the Champions League 2004-2005 with Liverpool, and Sadio Mané, winner 2018-2019 with Liverpool as well.
“I feel like I’m living a daydream. I gave myself the opportunity to live this kind of emotion, this kind of matching. Today I take this as a reward for my whole family, everyone who has suffered with me. (…) For a football player, the Champions League is the top. Today it is something extraordinary, he told RMC Sport.
.
