Henrique Hilario

Name:	Henrique Hilario
Nationality:	Portuguese
Date of Birth:	21/10/1975
Height:	6' 2" (189cm)
Weight:	13st 12lbs (88.0kg)
Position:	Goalkeeper

A new third choice keeper was needed when youth team product Lenny Pidgeley moved on in the summer of 2006. Experience was chosen.

Hilário, 30-years-old at the time, agreed to join the Portuguese contingent at Stamford Bridge as a support player, having come to the end of a contract at Nacional, a top flight club in his homeland.

Previously, the former under 21 international had two spells at Porto where he was a part of domestic league and cup wins. The second spell was under José Mourinho before leaving for Nacional to gain more first team games.

Neither could have guessed what awaited so early in the keeper's first Chelsea year. Injuries to Petr Cech and Carlo Cudicini in the same game meant Hilário's Chelsea debut came against European champions Barcelona. He kept a clean sheet in a 1-0 win.

By the end of the campaign, Hilário had played 18 games and fulfilled all that was expected of a number three choice, thrust so unexpectedly into the spotlight.

A model professional, the keeper kept his focus when the familiar coaching staff moved on in September 2007 and when Cech and Cudicini were both out at Christmas and the turn of the year, he was back in the limelight, playing in five wins, including a Carling Cup semi-final first leg.

There was one more call before the season was out, when Cudicini limped out at home to Fenerbahce in the Champions League. With the score tied on aggregate, Hilario executed a fantastic save and Chelsea went on to add a second. The keeper's important contribution to making Moscow should not be overlooked.