CHELSEA fans have been delighting in Djordje Petrovic’s mind games after the little-known goalkeeper’s heroics against Newcastle.
The Blues advanced to the Carabao Cup semi-final draw after a dramatic comeback to beat the Magpies on penalties last night.
PAChelsea goalkeeper Djordje Petrovic celebrates after securing a semi spot[/caption]
APThe Serbian saved the crucial spot-kick from Matt Ritchie[/caption]
bein sportsPetrovic was spotted pointing to his right as Matt Ritchie ran up[/caption]
bein sportsHe then dived high to his left after Ritchie fired his effort that way[/caption]
Callum Wilson’s 16th-minute strike looked to be enough to send Newcastle into the last four before Mykhailo Mudryk pounced on Kieran Trippier’s error deep in stoppage time to send the game to the spot-kick lottery.
Toon’s 33-year-old England international full-back then fired their second penalty wide in the shootout.
And after Chelsea had converted each of their kicks, Petrovic made himself the new hero of Stamford Bridge by saving Matt Ritchie’s effort to advance into the semis.
The 24-year-old Serbian ‘keeper signed a seven-year deal after joining the Blues from MLS club New England Revolution in August.
And after waiting for his opportunity, he has started the last three matches after the injury to regular No.1 Robert Sanchez.
He played in the 2-0 Premier League defeat at Everton before keeping a clean sheet in the 2-0 win over Sheffield United at the weekend.
Now he appears to be a firm fan favourite after his exploits ahead of his crucial penalty save from Ritchie were spotted.
Just as the winger was preparing to run up, Petrovic was spotted pointing to his right, indicating to Ritchie he knew he was going to go that way.
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However, the ex-Bournemouth man rifled his left-footed effort high in the opposite direction, and with the goalie also lunging that way, the stopper produced a great save.
“Just look at the mind games from Chelsea GK Djordje Petrovic before making the match-winning penalty save against Newcastle,” highlighted one account on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Another wrote: “You can just tell that Petrovic is going to have an amazing career at Chelsea — we only paid £14m for him too, what a bargain.”
A third commented: “High pens are tough to stop. This guy is really good.
“Djordje Petrovic is a very good goalkeeper.”
While another declared that he was “my new Blue hero”.
However, Petrovic’s penalty save came as no shock to one supporter.
Another one added: “Petrovic had saved five penalties in 48 matches with the New England Revolution. No surprise he came up big for Chelsea.”