Florent Malouda is one of the latest additions to the Chelsea Legends team that will be taking on their counterparts from Liverpool next month, so we’ve used the opportunity to look back on his highlights in blue.
Malouda signed from Lyon in the summer of 2007 and departed six years later as a Premier League, Champions League and multiple FA Cup winner. He scored 45 goals in 229 games for us and was our Players’ Player of the Year in the Double-winning campaign of 2009/10.
We start our reflection on the Frenchman’s best moments right at the beginning of his Chelsea career…
Debut delight
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Malouda stepped out in blue for the first time in the 2007 Community Shield, lining up in a fluid, strikerless front three also featuring Joe Cole and Shaun Wright-Phillips. Manchester United were our opponents at Wembley, and after Ryan Giggs had given them the lead, Malouda superbly equalised just before half-time. Latching on to an Ashley Cole pass, he outmuscled Rio Ferdinand before athletically volleying the ball past Edwin van der Sar. It was some way to announce his arrival to Chelsea fans.
A week later, we welcomed Birmingham City to Stamford Bridge for our first Premier League game of the 2007/08 season. Malouda’s maiden appearance on home soil couldn’t have gone better as he scored a fine goal in front of the Shed, finishing off a move he had started with a neat finish not dissimilar to the one he had netted against Man United. An entertaining game finished 3-2 to the Blues as we broke the record for the longest unbeaten home run in English football history.
Under the new management of Guus Hiddink, Malouda hit a rich vein of form towards the end of the 2008/09 season, his second as a Chelsea player. He had a big hand in our Champions League quarter-final victory over Liverpool, netted an equaliser in the FA Cup semi-final win against Arsenal, and scored in three of our last four league games.
Then came the FA Cup final, which Everton went ahead in almost immediately. We needed a moment of magic to break down the Toffees, and it was Malouda who supplied the superb cross that Didier Drogba headed home to draw us level. Frank Lampard would later net a deciding goal to secure the Cup, and Malouda his first winners’ medal as a Blue.
It looked like our flawless start to life under Carlo Ancelotti would come to an end at the Britannia Stadium as we were locked at 1-1 with injury-time approaching. Malouda had other ideas. The Potters failed to fully clear a long throw from Juliano Belletti, and after Michael Essien and Nicolas Anelka combined to work the ball to Malouda, he created a yard of space for himself before thumping a low strike that was too hot to handle for Steve Simonsen in Stoke’s goal. It was the sort of late victory that can prove decisive in title campaigns.
That goal at Stoke was one of many highlights Malouda provided during what was undoubtedly his best season in blue. He was especially outstanding in the closing weeks as we jostled with Manchester United at the top of the table, scoring consecutive braces in big wins against Portsmouth and Aston Villa that ignited our charge to glory at the start of spring. On the final day we had to beat Wigan to win the league, and one of the many indelible moments from a remarkable 8-0 thrashing was Malouda and his great mate Didier Drogba’s iconic celebration after the Ivorian had completed his treble. Drogba played the guitar, Malouda the drums, and it was time to party in SW6!
Malouda’s final appearance for Chelsea bore similarities to his first: a 1-1 draw in a showpiece decider settled by penalties. Thankfully, the outcome was different on a much grander occasion, the 2012 Champions League final. Malouda came off the bench to replace Ryan Bertrand in the 73rd minute after the youngster had surprisingly got the nod to start on the left-hand side of our attack. Like Bertrand, most of Malouda’s work was defensively minded as the game went to extra-time and then penalties. As one of those players who had suffered European heartbreak in 2008 and 2009, it was a very special way for the Frenchman to conclude his final Chelsea outing.
_Tickets for the Legends match against Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday 22 March_ [_are on sale now_](https://chelseafc.3ddigitalvenue.com/login?_gl=1*1ry40ap*_gcl_au*MTk5MTUyMzU3Ny4xNzM1NDYyNTg0*_ga*OTUwMjY5MjIyLjE3MDA5MDA5ODk.*_ga_0SXVVHPVKT*MTczOTM2OTE1Ni44NzQuMS4xNzM5MzcxNDU3LjAuMC4w*_fplc*eWpiTGxydTFTanJ0YXY4OU13WkFHck03OGt1bXNEYldGYWQ1c1FzSWwlMkJsU3dFakF1RFU4MkNwZERqZjFhdXFXa2I3JTJCTXNOOSUyRkV1N1NOT1pGYWFEN3FmWCUyQjZ1bVhZanRseHZ5JTJGVjNHWDl6NXRRU0lEN2RzU0I4U0lya2hEZyUzRCUzRA..)_._