Branislav Ivanovic

Branislav Ivanovic | Serbia & Chelsea Superstar

Russian Premier League outfit Zenit Saint Petersburg recently celebrated five years at their new stadium known as the Gazprom Arena. The Russian champions moved to the Gazprom Arena on April 22, 2017.
Serbian defender BranislavIvanovic would go down in history as the recipient of thefirst goal at the Gazprom Arena. BranislavIvanovic scored the opening goal as Zenit beat Ural from Ekaterinburg 2-0 in a league encounter. It was the first match hosted by Zenit at the Gazprom Arena. The opener from Ivanovicarrived four minutes from time and it was crucial in Zenit getting the win at the expense of Ural. BranislavIvanovic scored five more goals in his Zenit career to make it a total of six goalsuntil he left the club in the summer of 2020.

West Brom defender Dara O’Shea has moved to laud former teammate and Chelsea legend Branislav Ivanovic for the key role he played his his development. In the grand scheme of things, West Brom’s 2020/21 campaign will not be too fondly remembered by supporters.

BranislavIvanovic has put Chelsea down as fourth favourites to win this season’s Champions League competition. Chelsea are in the hat for the quarter-final draw, which takes place this morning at 11:00am. The Blues are joined by English rivals Manchester City and Liverpool, who they could be pitted against now there are no restrictions on clubs from the same country playing each other.

Former Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic is no doubt one of the best right-backs in the Premier League era and he has gotten his deserved praise for that. He has now been hailed by another former Premier League star Darren Bent has remembered what jt was like playing against the combative defender.

The English Premier League has seen a lot of dominant defenders in the past couple of decades, and the right-back position is one that has given rise to some of the best in the world. There have been some legendary right-back a to have played in England for some of the biggest clubs in the country and one of them is former Chelsea star Branislav Ivanovic.

Branislav Ivanovic was so good he was virtually impossible to play against, Darren Bent has recalled. The former Premier League striker was asked about the former Chelsea right-back on the day he turned 38 and labelled him a ‘tank’ who was one of the club’s best players having won everything in a nine-year spell.

The Serbian may be plying his trade at Championship side West Brom, but he would always be a fan’s favorite at the Premier League Club Chelsea. Branislav Ivanovic joined Chelsea in the winter of 2008 and went on to win everything at the club. He won the Premier League three times, the FA cup thrice, the UEFA champions league, one Europa League title, and also a League cup.

Life at Chelsea wasn’t the smoothest for the rampaging right-back. The defender had to endure a difficult period with then Chelsea manager Avram Grant and was regularly outshone in training by academy players. Six months after joining the club, he was linked with a move to Italy and only stayed because Shevchenco convinced him to stay.

Branislav Ivanovic was an important part of the Serbia squad that finished runners-up at the 2007 edition of the UEFA u-21 Championship in the Netherlands. Branislav Ivanovic and Serbia went all the way to the final but the hosts had too much quality for them as they lost 4-1 to finish the tournament in second place.

In the final, Branislav Ivanovic played the entire duration and was given a yellow card for his troubles on 62 minutes. The home team led by a lone goal at the end of the first 45 minutes thanks to the 17th minute strike from Otman Bakkal. The Netherlands then scored two goals in seven second minutes courtesy Ryan Babel and Maceo Rigters.

Serbian defender BranislavIvanovic spent almost a decade as a Chelsea player, but he didn't win more than one FA Community Shield. His only Community Shield win came in 2009 following the penalty shootout win over rivals Manchester United.

The 2009 FA Community Shield was the first trophy under the Carlo Ancelotti era at Stamford Bridge. Italian tactician Ancelotti was appointed as the new Blues manager in the summer of 2009 and he went on to win three trophies in his debut season as the Chelsea manager. Apart from the Community Shield, Ancelotti also won the FA Cup and Premier League titles.

Serbian defender BranislavIvanovic represented two teams in the Premier League and he made a total of over 250 appearances. BranislavIvanovic has a return of 22 goals and 20 assists in 274 Premier League matches. The ex-Zenit St. Petersburg and Lokomotiv Moscow utility player featured for West London giants Chelsea and Midlands club West Bromin the Premier League.

Ivanovic, 37, has an impressive record of 88 clean sheets in those 274 games. He has three Premier League titles to his name with all of them coming while the Serbian was at Chelsea.

BranislavIvanovic became a Premier League winner for the first time as part of the Chelsea squad under Italian manager Carlo Ancelotti during the 2009/10 season. He scored one in 28 appearances on the way to winning the league.

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has challenged Andreas Christensen to become a legend of defence at Stamford Bridge amidst his ongoing contract standoff. His manager told him to extend his Chelsea stay to become a legend of defence like John Terry, BranislavIvanovic and Cesar Azpilicueta.