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On Wednesday, Chelsea confirmed the departure of a Blues legend, Branislav Ivanovic. After nine trophy-laden years at Stamford Bridge, Ivanovic departed the shores of England to join Russian giants Zenith St Petersburg.
The Serbian joined Chelsea to no fanfare, but won the hearts of the Blue faithful with his robust and passionate display. His career at Chelsea will be deemed as a success, and many fans only got to know him when his two headed goals helped Chelsea beat Liverpool in the Champions League.
He’s one of only five foreign Chelsea players to have reached the 300-game landmark for Chelsea — the others being Didier Drogba, Mikel Obi, Petr Cech and Gianfranco Zola.
He won eight major trophies as a Chelsea player, and will be best remembered for his late minute header which won Chelsea the Europa League trophy in 2013.
In his trophy-laden spell at Chelsea, one of the things that struck me was his goal post celebration. It became customary for Ivanovic to do a horse-riding celebration on top of the goal post. That celebration was epic, and won our hearts, and just as the Serbian will be missed, his celebration will also be missed, starting with when we clinch the league title in May.