Much like his arrival at Chelsea, Branislav Ivanovic’s departure from the club appears to have flown somewhat under the radar, overshadowed by the more compelling story of a season that promises to end with ticker-tape and fireworks for the Blues.
In the first few months of Ivanovic’s career at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea were in the throes of a typically chaotic season that, despite promising to be the best in the club’s history, ended in heartbreak on every front. Now, an Antonio Conte side continues its inexorable march towards a Premier League title and a future filled with promise. Ivanovic is understandably in the background once again – a wizened warrior whose toughest battles have been fought and greatest victories won.
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It is remarkable to think that Ivanovic’s career at SW6 could have been over before it ever began, that the Serb could well have been thrown onto the sizeable scrapheap of Chelsea’s transfer mistakes just a few months after his move.
After spending the best part of a year watching from the sidelines and struggling with fitness issues, a frustrated Ivanovic was on the brink of a move to Italy. Nine years on, however, the defender will leave as a bona fide legend of the club and as arguably the best right-back the Blues have had in the Roman Abramovich era.
Although his contribution to the club is difficult to condense into a few hundred words, it is worth looking back on a remarkable career that features some of the most iconic moments in the club’s recent history.
Ivanovic key to Chelsea’s major trophies in last decade
Sustained brilliance and consistency over a period of time does not necessarily receive the same recognition or evoke the same visceral emotion as individual moments etched into the fans' collective memory. Fortunately for Ivanovic, his Chelsea career was a combination of both.
The Serbian is one of a select few players who can genuinely lay claim to being integral to all of Chelsea's major successes in the past nine years. Whether it be the two Premier League titles Chelsea have won in this period, the Champions League, or the Europa League, Ivanovic's contribution remains a constant.
The Serb’s real first-team breakthrough came in the 2009-10 season, when Jose Bosingwa, who had hitherto been the first-choice right-back under Luiz Felipe Scolari, Guus Hiddink and Carlo Ancelotti, suffered a season-ending knee injury.
The Serb grasped his opportunity with both hands and never looked back. His consistent performances over the season, which ended in a domestic double for Chelsea, earned him a spot in the PFA Team of the Year. In the two seasons that followed, Ivanovic cemented his place in the side and continued to impress, making the three-man shortlist for the club’s Player of the Year award, only to lose out to Petr Cech and Juan Mata in successive years.
The Blues next won the title in 2014-15 under Jose Mourinho, and Ivanovic played every single game of the season to earn a spot for a second time in the PFA Team of the Year alongside teammates John Terry and Gary Cahill. More than anything else, it is this consistency and sheer dependability over an extended period of time that Chelsea will miss in the years to come.
When future generations travel down memory lane, however, it is the ‘moments’ they will remember Ivanovic for: the two headers against Liverpool in the Champions League quarter-final that silenced the Kop, the dramatic extra-time winner against Napoli on a night that ranks as one of the most memorable in the club’s history, the Europa League final winner against Benfica in the dying embers of a match that could just as easily have swung the other way, and the extra-time winner against Liverpool in the second leg of the Capital One Cup semi-final in 2014-15.
At every turn, for the best part of a decade, Ivanovic has made telling contributions in Chelsea’s triumphs on the domestic and European stages. The big Serb has made an indelible impression at Stamford Bridge and leaves behind an enviable collection of fond memories.
Ivanovic’s commitment a lesson for Chelsea’s young players
Hunger, passion, commitment, desire: words the football viewer hears on a weekly basis from pundits on TV or the radio to the point where the meaning of those words has diminished – mere platitudes in the vacuum created by the lack of genuine analysis. Branislav Ivanovic, though, is a true embodiment of these qualities.
His propensity for showcasing his thespian talents to win fouls was admittedly irksome, but when it truly mattered, Ivanovic was as tough as they come. The defender’s mentality is perhaps best encapsulated in his display in the 2014-15 League Cup semi-final second leg against Liverpool, where he famously played with what John Terry described as a ‘hole in his foot’ and ‘a shoe full of blood’, going on to score the winner in extra-time to book Chelsea’s place in the final at Wembley.
Jose Mourinho later declared that the bloodied shoe should go straight to the club’s academy as a lesson to the youngsters of what it means to be a first-team player at Chelsea.
(Video courtesy: Chelsea Football Club YouTube channel)
A quick look at his rise from semi-professional footballer to Champions League winner also serves as a reminder of the odds he overcame and the strength of character it took to overcome them. At 19, Ivanovic was still playing in his home city for Serbian lower-division club FK Srem, for whom his father also once played.
As such, his formative years as a footballer were spent with no real facilities to speak of, let alone anything in the way of financial dividends, in stark contrast to the modern day young footballer.
To end up at Chelsea just four years later, then, is a triumph of nature over nurture, and a lesson for the Blues’ academy youngsters, who have available to them state-of-the-art facilities and exceptional coaches.
Perhaps above everything else, though, Chelsea’s army of young talent has much to learn from how the defender handled his first few months at the club. Having joined from Lokomotiv Moscow in January 2008 -- effectively post-season for a player from the Russian league -- Ivanovic lacked the fitness and sharpness to get anywhere near the first-team squad.
Even when he did eventually regain his fitness, he found it difficult to make any breakthrough and was constantly linked with moves away from the club. Andriy Shevchenko reportedly played a vital role in helping him through this difficult spell with advice and encouragement, but it was the now 32-year-old who eventually made an impact when given his opportunities.
The mental fortitude to perform when the time comes is arguably what separates the successful from the could-have-been. In that regard, Ivanovic’s story stands as a shining example.
It is a pity that the Serbia captain’s final months at Stanford Bridge have been so tumultuous. Often the scapegoat for the team’s defensive frailties, some would argue that Ivanovic’s legacy had been somewhat muddied by his sad decline over the past eighteen months.
It is particularly satisfying, then, that his final appearance ended in a vintage goal – a powerful finish after bursting through the lines and exchanging passes with Pedro.
One would hope, though, that despite the unedifying final chapters of his Chelsea story, fans will remember the good moments from a remarkable career that spanned nine years and nearly 400 official games.
Farewell and good luck Branna.
