‘I was dribbling past Ronaldinho’ – Chelsea legend Mikel reveals that game that won him John Terry’s trust:: All Nigeria Soccer

Chelsea and Super Eagles legend John Obi Mikel has made a revelation about the game that won him the trust of John Terry during their time at Stamford Bridge. 

 

A powerful midfielder with excellent positional sense, Mikel was on the books of Chelsea for ten and a half years, during which he won the Premier League twice, the FA Cup four times, the League Cup twice, and the Champions League and Europa League, too.

 

The 2013 Africa Cup of Nations winner confessed that he was not part of the inner circle at Chelsea for three consecutive years after he joined the club and was welcomed into John Terry’s circle of trust after his impressive performance in a pre-season friendly against AC Milan at the M&T Bank Stadium on July 25, 2009.

 

Mikel noted that Terry as a captain and leader was very ruthless on the pitch, making sure everything was organized and done correctly, adding that the central defender was always the first and last to leave the training ground. 

 

Terry started to accept the former Nigeria international as a top Chelsea player after he proved himself against AC Milan stars Ronaldinho, Alessandro Nesta, Gennaro Gattuso and Andrea Pirlo. 

 

Speaking on The Obi One Podcast, Mikel said: “There was a game we were playing, it was a friendly game before the 2010 (2009) season started. I think it was against AC Milan, we played the game during the Ancelotti time and then I was just feeling the game. Sometimes a football player walks on the pitch, like this is my day, things are going right.

“As a football player the first thing you need to do the start of the game, make sure your first pass is a good pass because that’s going to follow you the rest of the game.

“What you have to do, even if you have to pass it to the goalkeeper, just play a simple pass. I think it was in the United States we were playing a friendly game against AC Milan and I was feeling the game. I was getting the ball, I was tearing, I was making the passes, everything was going well and I was getting the ball from the keeper like next to the 18-yard box, I was dribbling past the likes of Ronaldinho.

“JT came up to me and said, ‘mate I think that’s enough now, you’ve had your turn, play simple now’, and I was thinking why he would say that to me because I was in the zone.

“After the game I came up to him, I was like but why will you say that to me and he said, ‘I was trying to look after you because you do this and you keep doing, it takes one, gets in, goal, and I know you’re going to start the season because of the way you’ve been playing in pre-season’.

“That was probably one of my best seasons under Carlo Ancelotti. Until I got injured I was playing literally every game and that was when we won the double.”

 

Mikel was originally named on Nigeria’s roster for the 2010 World Cup but was later replaced by Brown Ideye after undergoing surgery on a knee injury.

 

 

 

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

 

 

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