Ex-Chelsea star Michael Duberry reveals he performed in European cup last with face half paralysed
Michael Duberry battled by means of Bell’s Palsy to begin in Chelsea’s victorious UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup last in opposition to Stuttgart.
The Blues cult hero has opened up on being struck down with short-term facial paralysis simply weeks previous to the match earlier than cementing his place in membership folklore.
![Michael Duberry [right] celebrates Chelsea winning the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup](https://talksport.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/chelsea-captain-dennis-wise-michael-1623455.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
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Now 50 years outdated, Duberry was thought to be one among England’s most promising centre-backs in the course of the Nineties after breaking into the Chelsea group as an 18-year-old.
A key participant of their double-winning 1997/98 season, Duberry began in each the League Cup last win over Middlesbrough and the Cup Winners’ Cup triumph.
However what followers do not know is that the Enfield native was in a battle to even make the matchday squad to face German facet Stuttgart after being affected by the situation.
Duberry’s prognosis
Talking on the SACKED! podcast, with the newest episode printed in partnership with The Mind Charity, Duberry mentioned: “I suffered… not many individuals know this, I do not inform the story, however the largest recreation of my life on the time, the Cup Winners’ Cup.
“I used to be 20, 21, and two weeks earlier than I suffered from Bell’s Palsy, and folks is perhaps going, ‘Properly, Bell’s Palsy?’
“It is, in essence, a mini-stroke, down the facet, your face simply collapses.
“To present extra context over that: 21, I am within the peak of my powers, as they are saying, I am getting rave opinions as the most effective up-and-coming defenders, finest English defenders.
“There’s even discuss of the race to the World Cup [1998] on the time, and my identify’s been talked about, so I am doing rather well in any respect ranges.
“At some point, we completed coaching, and we was once just like the younger lads – myself, Jody Morris, Frank Sinclair, Andy Myers, Eddie Newton, Paul Hughes, Mark Nicholls.
“We used to remain collectively and we mentioned, ‘Let’s go for lunch,’ I feel it was Richmond and all of us drove right down to Richmond from the Harlington coaching floor – not the flowery Cobham – it was Harlington.
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“So, we’re having one thing to eat, we’re in a nook, not too boisterous, however we’re loud and stuff, and we’re having little jokes.
“After which somebody goes, ‘Take a look at your face,’ so, I’m considering it’s a little bit of banter, ‘Yeah, take a look at your face’ – ‘No, no, critically, dude, take a look at your face.’
“And I’m going, ‘Take a look at your face,’ and he says, ‘No, critically dude, go and take a look at your face.’
“I am going to the bathroom, my face is like, and it is like… I am unable to transfer one facet, I appear to be… if you happen to image Sloth within the Goonies, a black model of that, so I am like going, ‘Oh my god’.
“I cellphone up Mike Banks the physio, and I get an appointment to see our membership physician in Chelsea.
“So I get in my automobile, and the lads on the way in which out go, ‘Hey, you guys!’, doing all that kind of stuff, and it is a bit of banter.
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“I am driving down the journey, and I am trying within the mirror and like my face, I am unable to transfer my face, I am going see the physician, and he says, ‘Yeah, you have received Bell’s Palsy,’ – ‘What’s Bell’s Palsy?’
“I don’t know what Bell’s Palsy is, and he tries to clarify it, ‘Properly, how lengthy do you may have it for?’, as a result of I’m considering we’ve received a cup last.
“We simply beat Middlesbrough within the League Cup last, ‘It may be two weeks, two months, two years,’ that was simply the essence of his medical prognosis.”
Duberry was finally taken out of the Chelsea group by then-manager Gianluca Vialli to recuperate, however by means of his dedication in coaching, he gained his place again within the group to begin in opposition to Stuttgart.
He continued: “Each time I performed for Chelsea at the moment, I used to be all the time the younger one, so I bear in mind considering, ‘I mustn’t be the weak hyperlink,’ as a result of I’ve received internationals round me.
“I feel, ‘This could’t have an effect on me, this could’t have an effect on me,’ and to be truthful it did not, the magic man, the magician [Gianfranco Zola] scored the successful objective and we gained.
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“However I all the time bear in mind doing the celebrations, I all the time use that image once I do a few of my talks, and I say to individuals, ‘What do you see in that image?’
“And so they say, ‘Celebrations, glory,’ and I say, ‘I see Resilience,’ as a result of in photos, if you happen to see my face there, anybody who has had it will possibly see it right away, and it simply says ‘resilience’ as a result of I had the Bell’s Palsy.
“That’s one among my largest accomplishments, hurdles, issues I’ve ever overcome in my life.
“So having Bell’s Palsy and taking part in a serious cup last and successful is the largest factor for me.”
Duberry, who would go on to begin within the 1-0 win over Actual Madrid within the 1998 UEFA Tremendous Cup, featured in a complete of 116 matches for Chelsea throughout all competitions, earlier than becoming a member of Leeds in a £4million switch in 1999.
He retired from the gorgeous recreation in 2013 following subsequent spells at Stoke, Studying, Wycombe, St Johnstone, Oxford and Hendon.
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