Florent Malouda gives insight into Champions League final win, makes Petr Cech claim and reveals aftermath of Zidane’s headbutt

In the second part of Ladbrokes’ exclusive interview with Florent Malouda, the former Chelsea winger talks about the Blues’ 2012 Champions League triumph and the 2006 World Cup with France.

You can read part one in which he discusses the current Chelsea and Manchester United teams, Conor Gallagher, Jose Mourinho and the greatest footballer he has played alongside.

2012 Champions League run wasn’t just historical, it was magical

I’m not sure if you would necessarily call it the greatest Champions League final of all time – it certainly wasn’t for Bayern! But beating the odds, beating a full-strength Bayern team in their own stadium, all the odds were against us. When you look at the whole journey we went on in 2012, and the amount of times we had to fight and come back, I think we showed so many different qualities which are needed to become champions. The comeback was historic, it’s as simple as that.

The character, strength and resilience we showed on that night was unmatchable. You could see exactly what it meant to us to win that trophy – especially with what had happened against Manchester United in Moscow four years before.

Before the final, there were four players who were injured but had asked to play the game. It was the most important game of our lives. There were so many difficult circumstances we were faced with, and that was what was so beautiful about that night. We all stayed focused and actually achieved what we set out to do. It wasn’t just historical, it was magical.

Petr Cech was obsessed with penalties, that’s why we won the Champions League

There were so many huge moments on that night, most were centred around Didier Drogba. He scored the late equaliser to keep us in the game, and then he gave away a penalty in extra-time. It was a continuation of 2008, where he got a red card in the final against Man United. It happened and Bayern got the penalty, but nobody was blaming Didier. We had got so far, we were all confident. No one was asking Didier what he was thinking, instead we turned to Petr Cech. We were confident he would save it – and what a save it was, by the way!

And we all know what happened afterwards, again Didier! You saw him stepping up to take the winning penalty, in that moment, the amount of pressure he was under, but we all expected him to deliver for us.

🔵 Drogba got the vital goal but @PetrCech was phenomenal that night 🔥#OTD | #UCLfinal pic.twitter.com/GwF1vQ6oRT

— #SuperCup (@ChampionsLeague) May 19, 2022

Juan Mata missed our opening penalty of the night. But it was OK, because our mind-set was totally different. I wasn’t thinking about the World Cup final from 2006, the penalty shoot-out which we lost against Italy, or the one we lost against Man United four years prior. There was no fear in our squad. We were a unit and we were confident in Petr.

We knew how obsessed Petr Cech was with penalty shoot-outs. We knew how much he prepared for this scenario. He studied every penalty taker. He knew everything about the statistics, so he was ready. He was in a zone, and because of that we were confident.

And then Didier was given the opportunity to score the winning penalty. It was beautiful, almost poetic it was him. He was the one who took us that far, he was the one who gave away a penalty in extra-time, and here he was with the opportunity to become a hero. There was no doubt in my mind that we were going to win that shoot-out.

Drogba scored the winning penalty, but that night was Petr Cech’s

So the big question is, was it the night of Dider or the night of Petr? I think they’re happy to share it but I’d probably say it was more Petr’s night. Forget just the penalty saves, Petr kept us in that game on a number of occasions throughout the 90 minutes. He’s the one who gave Didier the opportunity to become the match-winner, because of his saves. Without Petr in goal, I don’t think we’d have been anywhere near a penalty shoot-out on that night. I think we’d have probably lost the game two or three nil.

I’ve been there on a couple of occasions and been on both sides – winning and losing – in penalty shoot-outs in a final. When Bastian Schweinsteiger missed and gave Didier the chance to win the game for us, I was only focusing on Didier putting the ball in the net. I wasn’t thinking about anything else. Four years prior to that night, we had the opportunity to win the trophy after Cristiano Ronaldo missed his penalty, but it wasn’t to be. But on this occasion, I knew it was our night.

I saw Didier take the ball, take his time. He knew what he was going to do and I knew it too. I was already thinking about our celebration. Luckily both of our heroes on that night were celebrating together as Didier went straight over to Petr after scoring the winner, which meant we didn’t have to choose between which person to celebrate with. We just jumped on the pair of them! Even in celebration, we were a unit.

We all wanted to share that moment and soak it up because we knew we had made history. We knew how far we had come in such a difficult year. We were exhausted on that pitch, but it was a pure moment of happiness and joy.

We didn’t leave Bayern’s stadium until 2am after that final win

Having been something of an unfortunate expert of losing important finals, time has stopped for me on several occasions. It happened in 2006 against Italy, in 2008 against Man United, and against Barcelona at Stamford Bridge in 2009. Time stopped for me in all of these moments for all the wrong reasons. But on this occasion, in 2012, I wanted time to stop because I wanted to stay on that pitch forever. The celebration was about getting close to that trophy, holding it, kissing it. We stayed on that pitch for a long, long time.

Then we headed into the dressing room and we’re drinking, singing and dancing. You just want to stay in the stadium for as long as you can. You want that moment to last forever. Sure, there was a party at the hotel afterwards, but at the same time, you’re thinking about getting ready to come back to London for the parade.

I think we left the stadium at around 2am, so our night was very, very short. That’s why you saw everyone wearing sunglasses on our trophy parade the following day! But we just had so much positive energy, and it’s moments like that which you need to store and keep with you forever. To celebrate with your fans is just unbelievable. It was pure happiness for me.

2006 World Cup heartbreak: I’ll never watch the game back

I’ve never watched the 2006 World Cup final back in full. I never will. I’ve seen some highlights from the game, but I’ve never gone out of my way to rewatch it. All I can think about is walking out onto the pitch and walking off again, past the trophy and not being able to lift it.

I remember the score, I remember the penalty shoot-out, but I try not to look back on it too much because it wasn’t a good night for us.

It was a difficult time for me, but at the same time I have to think on the tournament as a whole, as a positive experience for me. Just before the competition started, I had surgery so I nearly didn’t make the squad. In the group stages I didn’t play the first game, but then I was in the starting line-up for every other match throughout the competition.

🇫🇷 Florent Malouda won the penalty Zinedine Zidane scored to put France ahead in the 2006 #WorldCup Final. 25.8% of you nailed it 👏 https://t.co/1gKd6vfIFA pic.twitter.com/Vf50TamUkb

— FIFA World Cup (@FIFAWorldCup) April 7, 2021

Preparing for those knockout matches is such a strange scenario because you’re constantly packing your luggage. If you lose, you’re going home, and if you win, you’re heading somewhere else. Everything happened so fast in those knockout weeks because we were constantly on the move.

I learned so much from those experienced players in the squad, the likes of Zinedine Zidane, Claude Makelele, Fabian Barthez, Willy Sagnol, William Gallas, Patrick Vieira, Thierry Henry… the way they were all so calm before the storm. Those last lunches and pre-match meals, you sit with those guys and instantly you’re so calm because they are.

It was a massive experience for me in terms of confidence. You don’t even think about your opponents; the best way to prepare is to get yourself at the best level – not before, not after, but in that moment, otherwise you’re out. It was a great experience, especially with someone like Zidane who was a maestro in that tournament. I learned a lot by observing him.

Zidane headbutt – none of us knew what had happened

In terms of the final and the famous incident with Marco Materazzi, I was on the pitch at the time. Myself and Franck Ribery had swapped wings during extra-time so I was close to the incident. But honestly, at that stage in the game, the ball was going from box-to-box, the tempo was so fast and us players were just following the ball. Everybody was paying attention to the other end of the pitch.

We were all surprised why the game had been stopped, at that time there was no VAR so no one knew what had happened! I was just wondering why the referee had stopped the game and then, when the referee gave Zizou the red card, we just couldn’t understand. We didn’t even notice there was an incident.

But it happened, Zizou left the pitch and we carried on. We tried to win the game, that was all we were focusing on. We regrouped and sorted our shape out but to be honest, at that stage in the game there were no real positions; everyone was just trying to win the game before it went to a penalty shoot-out.

After the final whistle, there’s just disappointment. You’ve lost a World Cup final. You’re not thinking about the incident that much, it’s only when you go back home and you read about it, you see the replay of it. I’ve been asked what really happened by many people since that day, but the honest answer is that I don’t know. On the pitch, things were happening so fast, and there were so many emotions flying around, we just don’t know what led to it.

I’ve seen Zidane a few times since that happened and I’ve never considered asking him about what happened. It’s done and we lost a World Cup final.

France v Italy 2006 aftermath…why were we being congratulated? We’d just lost!

The aftermath of that final was difficult. We gave everything for our country during that tournament, so the dressing room was very silent and some officials came in to congratulate us. We lost in a final and were being congratulated. People in France were proud of the team and our efforts but we couldn’t make sense of it at the time. We lost.

We flew back to France and there was a big celebration for our achievements, but we didn’t feel good because we lost! We were exhausted, and as an international player, you know the next pre-season starts in 20 days. So you have all of those emotions you’re carrying, you’re mentally and physically drained, but you’re playing at a level where you have to go again, and start preparing for the new season.

But then at the back of your mind, you’re wondering if you’ll ever get that opportunity again, to play in a World Cup final.

Time stops, when you’re in that moment. You’re on the losing side and everything stops. You don’t know what’s happening around you, and if I think back now I couldn’t tell you what I was thinking after that winning penalty was scored. If anyone tried speaking to me, I didn’t hear them. My body was there but my mind was somewhere else.

2010 World Cup was ‘bad decision after bad decision’ for France

So in 2006 we reach the World Cup final, and while spirits are low after losing in the final, and you’re left wondering whether you’ll get that opportunity again, you could never anticipate what would happen in South Africa. We went from being finalists to not even qualifying from our group within two tournaments.

It’s strange because I personally went into that tournament off the back of a good season with Chelsea, so I had a lot of expectations for that World Cup. But then it was bad decision after bad decision after bad decision. No one could stop it. The world was watching and we felt the damage when we returned home.

It just shows that in sport, even the biggest countries can fail. Within the blink of an eye, the tournament has passed you by, you’re on your way home and preparations begin for the next season.

But I take this as a good experience for myself, because it showed me that champions don’t, and can’t always succeed. I was then itching to get back to winning ways, at least for my club, and in that following season we finished second in the league and I was Chelsea’s top goalscorer. Two years later we won the Champions League.