'I played for Jose Mourinho at Chelsea - this is why chat with boss left my wife unhappy'

Chelsea icon has opened up about his wife's concern when he made a rapid return from his serious head injury. The goalkeeper suffered a fractured skull in October 2006 after a collision with 's Stephen Hunt during a game at the Madejski Stadium.

Despite being warned by some that his football career might be over due to the severity of the damage, Cech defied the odds, returning to the field in just three months, wearing the distinctive protective headgear he is now known for. His first match back was against in January 2007 and ended in a 2-0 loss for . Although Cech himself was eager to play, he shared that his wife Martina was less than thrilled upon learning he would be heading to Anfield for the comeback. In an interview with fellow goalkeeper Ben Foster, the former and shot-stopper recounted the pivotal conversation with then- manager that paved the way for his recovery from the potentially career-ending injury.

While admitting initial difficulty with adapting to the helmet in games during his appearance on the '' podcast, the 42-year-old said that it quickly became second nature. Cech said: "When we came to a point with the head injury, he (Mourinho) said, 'Do you want to play?'

"And I said to him, 'Well, I had one training session, but now I actually feel like I'm ready to go'. I think my wife was not happy when I said I was travelling to Liverpool. She was like, 'I've heard this one before'.

"She goes, 'Are you not playing?' I said, 'No, no, don't worry, it's just to be with the team'. We lost 2-0 and it was okay. I made a couple of saves and felt quite okay. With the goals. I couldn't do much."

He added: "The only problem I had in that game was the helmet. With the noise, I had a funny feeling like my head was in a tumble dryer. I'd never experienced that before, because when I trained, everything I did was with the helmet, but on my own.

"You don't really get the noise of 45,000 people in a big game. That was one of the issues I was fighting throughout the game but then I got used to it, and it was all fine."

Cech opened up more about his remarkable comeback from the injury, which he considers the biggest challenge of his career. Despite others raising doubts about his decision to continue, his determination remained unshaken.

"There were a lot of people saying it was probably the end and that I would not play again," he said. "You get so many people telling you that you should take time, you should take the whole year off and build up slowly to get back.

"I wanted to get back playing as this is what I enjoy the most and it was a challenge to prove to everyone that I don't need a whole year.

"It was a massive challenge for me because there were days when you just feel like it will never happen, it's not going well, you don't feel well and you think, 'Ok, what am I going to do?'

"But then you had days where all the positive things came back and I was really happy with the way I did it. I enjoyed the rest of the season when I came back because it was kind of a bonus. Nobody expected me to play so I really enjoyed that because I played with less pressure as I was appreciating the fact that I was back."