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For the traditional football supporter, there is something disconcerting
about hearing a defender described as being 'better going forward than
defending', but that was certainly the reputation Spanish international
left-back Asier Del Horno brought with him when he arrived at Stamford
Bridge from Athletic Bilbao for the princely sum of £8, 000, 000 in the
summer of 2005. However, if his one season in London was anything to go
by, this reputation was thoroughly undeserved - he was equally poor in
both respects! Del Horno was already known to English supporters as the
man who had scored the only goal of a bad-tempered friendly between
Spain and England just a few months before he moved to the Premiership,
and his early performances suggested a good deal of promise, but in the
event, the highlight of his time at the Bridge came just a fortnight
into the new season, when his header from a corner opened the scoring in
a 2-0 Chelsea victory at Tottenham. Earlier in that game he had been
involved in an incident with Tottenham's lumbering striker, Mido, which
had led to the Egyptian rightly being shown a red card for clattering
Del Horno with his forearm, but the Spaniard had an unfortunate habit of
getting involved in such incidents, and acts of petulance - often
frowned upon by the Stamford Bridge faithful - were frequent during his
time with the club, the most famous of which cost Chelsea any chance of
beating Barcelona in a Champions League head-to-head at the first
knockout stage.
Midway through the first-half of the first leg, played
at the Bridge, Del Horno followed up an earlier lunge at Barca's Lionel
Messi that had gone unpunished, with another hack, and despite failing
to make significant contact on this occasion, the Argentinian wonder-kid
fell to the ground theatrically in mock agony, as did Del Horno. Sadly
for the Blues, only Messi managed to sufficiently dupe the referee, and
the Spaniard was laughably given the red card that he had perhaps
deserved to receive for his original challenge.
Forced to play for more
than an hour with just ten men against the team who would eventually win
the competition, Chelsea eventually succumbed by the odd goal in five
over the two legs. However, by this point in the season, the expensive
signing was already by no means assured of his place at left-back, with
William Gallas, one half of probably the best central-defensive pairing
ever seen at Chelsea, being frequently played out of position in Del
Horno's stead. It was therefore no surprise that at the end of the
2005/06 season - and with a Premiership winner's medal to show for his
otherwise disappointing time in London - Asier Del Horno moved back to
Spain to join Valencia for £4,800,000. (Kelvin Barker)
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