Philippe Senderos 05-06

The man, the myth, the legend. Philippe retired at the beginning of the year to little fanfare. But with nothing else to talk about, let's spend the next few moments to remember this great of the game and a couple of records he helped set in 2006.

After making his debut in a 1-0 win over Bayern Munich the previous season, Senderos helped set the longest run without conceding in the Champions League. All 7 of his appearances in the run to the 2006 final ended with a clean sheet:
1-0 vs Thun
0-0 vs Ajax
1-0 away to Real Madrid
0-0 home to Real Madrid
2-0 home to Juventus
0-0 away to Juventus
1-0 home to Villarreal.

Final - dropped to the bench - lost 2-1.


World Cup 2006/2010 - Switzerland set the longest run without conceding in World Cup games. Big Phil played in 4 of the 5 games they kept clean sheets:
0-0 vs France
2-0 vs Togo
2-0 vs South Korea
(missed the 0-0 with Ukraine that led to elimination on penalties)
1-0 vs Spain
(missed the 1-0 defeat to Chile)


We shouldn't forget he also played in the 2005 FA Cup final, wherein we had to hold off a 120 minute onslaught from Manchester Uniteds superstar attack including Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Paul Scholes.


If it weren't for Didier Drogba we would be talking about Senderos alongside the likes of Bobby Moore, Tony Adams, John Terry.
(Should be noted that in the timeframe of the records set, Drogba only scored once in 3 games against Senderos).


Let's all get to the doorstep and applaude this hero of a man.