Geoff Shreeves recalls THAT awkward interview with Branislav Ivanović

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Photo: Reuters

Sky Sports reporter Geoff Shreeves has recalled the awkward interview he conducted with Branislav Ivanović in 2012.

Shreeves interviewed Ivanović following Chelsea's thrilling 3-2 aggregate win over Barcelona in their 2011/2012 Champions League semi-final at the Camp Nou.

Ivanović was delighted with the result during his post match interview but unbeknownst to him, a yellow card he received meant he would be suspended for the final against Bayern Munich.

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And the Chelsea defender seemed confused and fell flat after Shreeves broke the news to him.

This turned into an uncomfortable exchange as Ivanović's disappointment was clear for all to see.

Explaining the incident to Shaun Custis on Sunday Edition, Shreeves said:

The problem was I wasn't actually sure if he was going to miss the final!

We didn't know if he'd actually been booked. He scuffed up the penalty spot and it was away, we weren't sure and he just got shoved along the interview line with Ashley Cole and Petr Čech and I didn't know.

I couldn't say, "It's great you're in the final" because he might turn and say to me, "What are you on about, you fool, I'm not in the final" and I couldn't say, "You're not playing, are you" because I wasn't sure!

It meant that we had this horrible, confused interview in which I tried to gently say, "You do realise that if you were booked..." but he didn't have the demeanour of someone who knew he wasn't playing in the final.

Anyway, it was years later that we found out the Chelsea management hadn't reminded the players who were on yellows - he'd celebrated on the pitch and in the dressing room and it was only when he got on the team bus that he looked at his phone and realised he wasn't playing.

Could I have handled it better? Yes.

Chelsea went on to beat Bayern in the final on penalties, whilst Ivanović forced watched on from the sidelines.

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However, the Serbian got his redemption when he helped Chelsea to Europa League glory the next year, scoring an injury time winner to see off Benfica in the final.

I messaged him and said, "Thank God, you'll be remembered as a Chelsea hero" which he was anyway because he was a great servant to the club.

I said, "You'll be remembered more for that than that so-and-so interview" and he just replied with laughing emojis.

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