Nerves were understandably high moments before kickoff. How could they not be? It was the Champions League final, after all. Their opponents, Bayern Munich, were confident of victory, his team, Chelsea, had never won the trophy, and he was assigned the daunting task of keeping one of the best wingers of all time quiet, while playing in an unfamiliar position. Despite all this pressure, Ryan Bertrand remained remarkably composed on May 20, 2012.
To settle his mind, the then 22-year-old reminisced about his early days. “I used to play World Cup with my brothers, one against the other, in front of our house against a wall that had a sign saying, `Playing football is forbidden.`” From these simple, nostalgic beginnings, his footballing journey took a turbulent path, eventually leading him to the grand stage of the Allianz Arena.
At the age of 15, the young left-back was signed by Chelsea FC and progressed through their youth system. However, the transition to the senior squad wasn`t immediate. After several loan spells, the Englishman finally earned his first Premier League appearance for the Blues in April 2011, coming on as a substitute for his compatriot, Ashley Cole, against Birmingham. Just over a year later, the two players found themselves standing side-by-side on the pitch in Munich.
The experienced Cole started in his usual left-back role. In front of him, the debutant Bertrand was deployed on the wing – a position he had only occupied in a handful of minor league matches previously and was otherwise only familiar with from training sessions. Many experts and fans saw this as a bold and potentially risky experiment on European football`s biggest stage. However, the architect of the idea was firm in his conviction.
“It was no risk,” manager Roberto di Matteo clarified years later. “Everyone claimed I was gambling, but as a coach, you don`t perceive such moves as gambles because they are strategically sound.” Di Matteo`s intention was to deploy Cole and Bertrand, two defensively astute players, to effectively counteract Bayern`s formidable attacking duo on the right flank, Philipp Lahm and Arjen Robben. The tactic had worked effectively in training – and, as history now records, it also proved successful in the Champions League final.
Di Matteo only revealed the surprise tactical plan to his young player a few hours before kickoff. Bertrand was visibly shocked. “You should have seen his face!” Di Matteo recalled with a smile. “He was shocked, but I think he was also secretly pleased.”
Regardless of his initial reaction, Bertrand certainly repaid the trust placed in him. He was substituted after 73 minutes, utterly exhausted, with the score still level at 0-0. His first – and one of only four – Champions League appearances ended with him lifting the coveted trophy. More significantly, he achieved a unique distinction: since the Champions League era began in 1992, no player before him had ever made their starting debut in the final match itself.
In the subsequent season, he added three more brief appearances in the competition, marking the end of his time in Europe`s elite tournament. The often turbulent environment at Stamford Bridge also led to the London-born player moving on sooner than many expected. Despite signing a five-year contract extension in September 2012, by the time that contract would have concluded, the 19-time England international had already moved on to Aston Villa and then established himself at Southampton.
Southampton ultimately paid around 13 million euros for Bertrand in 2015, following two earlier loan spells at the club. The Champions League winner became a mainstay for the Saints, making 240 Premier League appearances before concluding his playing career at Leicester City and finally retiring from professional football around a year ago, at the age of 34.
Affected by injury issues towards the end, the now successful businessman quietly stepped away from the game, just as he had unexpectedly burst onto its grandest stage: surprisingly, yet with clear purpose.
