‘I don’t remember fracturing my skull – the last memory I have is the handshake’

Petr Cech says he has no memory of the horrific head injury he suffered in 2008 that forced him to wear protective headgear for more than half of his career – and that that fact probably played to his advantage.

Cech was caught in the head by Stephen Hunt’s knee in an October 2006 Premier League clash with Reading at the Madejski Stadium and required emergency surgery for a depressed skull fracture that doctors later revealed had nearly killed him.

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