Chelsea Star player has today announced his retirement from football after shocking scenes

Few choices in Chelsea history will ever be as iconic as Ryan Bertrand’s selection by (acting) head coach Roberto Di Matteo as the team’s left flank in the 2012 Champions League final. At the age of just 21, Bertrand had only twelve top flight starts under his belt and had never even begun in the competition. He was a left back, by the way.

He would create history by being the first player to ever compete in the competition’s final and to ever raise the Big Ears trophy afterward! Although Bertrand would only play three more Champions League games in his career—all in the following season—and would eventually leave Chelsea in quest of more reliable playing time, he will always be remembered as one of our Heroes of Munich in the club’s annals.

Bertrand, who has been out of the game for the last year at the age of 34, announced his official retirement yesterday. After leaving Chelsea in 2014, he enjoyed seven extremely successful years at Southampton. He then joined Leicester City in 2021, but injuries would only allow him to make a dozen or so games in two years. He has been without a team since the summer of last year, when his contract ended.