| Name: | Branislav Ivanovic |
| Nationality: | Serbian |
| Date of Birth: | 22/02/1984 |
| Height: | 6' 2" (188cm) |
| Weight: | 13st 8lbs (86.0kg) |
| Previous | |
| Clubs: | OFK Belgrade, Lokomotiv Mosc |
| Position: | Defender |
Steady progress was the theme of Branislav Ivanovic's first full season as a Chelsea player, while in his second he made himself almost indispensable.
Beginning the 2009/10 campaign as understudy to Jose Bosingwa at right-back, the Serb capitalised when the Portuguese suffered a season-ending knee injury in October, and has never looked back, contributing a series of assured displays with his strong defensive work and powerful attacking play.
His 41 appearances placed him as a frontrunner in voting for our Player of the Year award, and although he eventually lost out to Didier Drogba, he joined the Ivorian in the PFA Premier League Team of the Season.
That was in spite of beginning the league campaign as a reserve following an uncertain Community Shield. However injury to Alex and the manager's reluctance to play Ricardo Carvalho twice in a week allowed Ivanovic a start a centre-back in our second league game of the season, but it wasn't until Bosingwa withdrew at Aston Villa in mid-October that he became a regular.
He bundled himself his solitary goal of the campaign at Bolton at the end of the month as he kept seven consecutive clean sheets in all competitions, while beginning to offer an added threat in attack.
Two assists came against Everton in December, and it was he who was fouled for the decisive penalty against Portsmouth a few days later.
Away in the San Siro in the Champions League he was arguably at fault for Inter's first goal but compensated by charging his way through Inter's midfield and defence to tee up Salomon Kalou for the equaliser.
The domestic title race was tight, and going all the way, so it was frustrating for the Serb to pick up a calf injury at Blackburn in March. It kept him out almost a month, returning as a half-time sub at Spurs after damage had already been done, and starting in the 7-0 bashing of Stoke.
Impeccable at Liverpool, he set up Nicolas Anelka before coming off on the hour to a champion's ovation against Wigan. Back at Wembley for the FA Cup Final, he played 90 minutes this time as he completed a brilliant turnaround in fortunes from the start of the season.
Branislav's start to life as a Chelsea player was slow - a debut only came in the Carling Cup away at Portsmouth in late September 2008, eight months after his arrival, before a lengthier spell in the heart of defence alongside John Terry after injury to Ricardo Carvalho and Alex.
Now settled in London and his English steadily improving, Branislav began to show his true capabilities, while also earning cult status among Chelsea fans for his Champions League double at Anfield in April.
Deployed at centre-half, Ivanovic went up for two corners and was almost ignored as the threat of Terry and Didier Drogba was deemed more dangerous by Liverpool, allowing him to ghost in and crash home two headers, all but booking our place in the semi-finals.
He kept his place for a run of games afterwards, marking Thierry Henry in the Camp Nou, and while at first struggling with the Frenchman's raw pace, he adapted and made a number of important blocks, interceptions and clearances.
In total he played 26 times in 2008/09 season, 16 times in the league with 11 starts.
Signed from Lokomotiv Moscow on a three-and-a-half year contract, Branislav became then manager Avram Grant's second signing in the January 2008 transfer window, following on from the arrival of Nicolas Anelka.
Having begun his career in his native Serbia at local club Sremska Mitrovica, he soon moved to the Serbian capital Belgrade to play for OFK Beograd where he remained for three seasons, joining Lokomotiv in the summer of 2006. He appeared for the Russian side in the Uefa Cup.
A star of Serbia's Under 21s in both the 2006 and 2007 European Championships, Branislav was voted into the Uefa Team of the Tournament for the more recent event, and successfully graduated into a regular for the full national side.
He made his Serbia and Montenegro debut in June 2006 and was established on the international scene before he was established for Chelsea. No-one played more minutes for Serbia in qualifying for 2010 World Cup where he was a regular although his team didn't make it out the group stage despite defeating Germany. He previously captained Serbia to the final of the European Under 21 Championships.
