‘I emptied mini bar night before Chelsea game then had to play – I was fuming’

A former Chelsea star’s pre-match booze up backfired spectacularly when he was unexpectedly pressed into action.

Wayne Bridge was relegated to the second-choice left-back at Stamford Bridge following the arrival of Ashley Cole from Arsenal in 2006. As a result, he was usually consigned to the bench or out of the squad entirely on matchdays.

Bridge had got so used to not playing, he decided to have a little party in his hotel room the night before one game. As you would expect for a room used by a Premier League player, the mini bar was stacked with alcohol.

Bridge and several of his team-mates went on to enjoy a thoroughly good shindig before what he expected to be another day of bench warming. However, to his horror, Bridge had to play almost the full game the following day after Cole picked up an early injury.

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“I never really played when Ash was there,” recalled Bridge on the That Peter Crouch Podcast. “It [the party] was a one-off, it wasn’t like something I did every Friday before the game.

“I won’t mention any of the other people who were involved. I did basically drink the mini bar dry and had a bit of party. A small party, I’d say.

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He added: “I was either on the bench or in the stands. Ash plays. Then he gets injured after 12 bloody minutes and I’m on the bench.

“The thing is, Ash knew [about the party] as well because he’d poked his head in. And he was just laughing his head off at me when I came on the pitch.

"I was literally fuming. I actually played really well, to be fair which was ‘phew’ for me, thank god."

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