MICHAEL DUBERRY lifted the Cup Winners’ Cup despite playing the entire game unable to move half of his face.
The former Chelsea defender was diagnosed with Bell’s Palsy just weeks before the game, he has revealed.
But Duberry, now 50, did not let that stop him from claiming a major trophy early on in his career.
The Englishman, who went on to leave the Blues just a year later, made over 100 appearances for the club.
And one stands out for him. Speaking on the SACKED! podcast, Duberry opened up on his condition.
Explaining the back story to his temporary paralysis, he said: “The one that sticks out, for me because it is a foundation of my whole resilience and who I was, [is the Cup Winners’ Cup].
“I suffered, not many people know this, I don’t tell the story.
“It wasn’t like it is now where everything is news but the biggest game of my life at the time, you mentioned the Cup Winners’ Cup.
“I was 20, 21, and two weeks before I suffered from Bell’s Palsy. People might be going: ‘What is Bell’s Palsy?’
“In essence, it’s a mini stroke, down the side of your face. It just collapses.
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“To give more context over that, I’m 21, in the peak of my powers as they say, I’m getting rave reviews as one of the best up and coming defenders, the best English defenders.
“There’s even talk of the race to the World Cup [1998] at the time, and my name is being mentioned.
“I’m doing really well at all levels and one day we finished training and me and the young lads, Jody Morris, Frank Sinclair, Andy Myers, Eddie Newton, Paul Hughes, Mark Nichols, we used to stay together.
“And we go to lunch, went to lunch, I think it was in Richmond, Paul drove down from Harlington training ground, not the fancy Cobham.
“We go to Richmond, having something to eat. Not too boisterous but we’re loud and stuff, having a joke.
“Someone says: ‘Look at your face.’
“And I go: ‘Yeah, look at your face.’ Having a bit of banter.
“And they say: ‘No, seriously Dubes, go and look at your face.’
“I go to the toilet and I look at my face and I can’t move my face. I look like Sloth in the Goonies if you picture a Black version of that.
“I’m going ‘Oh my God.’ I phone up my physio to see our club doctor at Chelsea, get in the car, and all the lads are having a bit of banter on the way out.
“Going, driving down on the journey, and I’m looking in the mirror at my face, I can’t move my face.
“I see the doctor and he says I’ve got Bell’s Palsy. What is Bell’s Palsy? I don’t know what Bell’s Palsy is?
“Well, how long do you have it for, because I’m thinking we’ve got a cup final.
“We just beat Middlesbrough in the League Cup. It can be two weeks, two months, two years.
“That was just the essence of his medical diagnosis.”
And although Duberry had to win over The Boss, Gianluca Vialli, to prove he was able to start, he did.
Training harder than ever, he was picked in the XI which beat Stuttgart 1-0 in Stockholm.
Duberry continued: “So I played, and anyone who has played sport thinks you want to be 100 per cent, but you never do.
“You want that little niggle to keep you alive and concentrate but this was something different.”
“You want that little niggle to keep you alive and concentrate but this was something different.
“In my head I’m thinking: ‘Don’t let this disturb you.’
“Playing for Chelsea at that time, I was always the young one thinking: ‘I mustn’t be the weak link.’
“I’ve got internationals around me and I think ‘This can’t affect me, this can’t affect me.’
“And luckily we went through and the magic man, the magician [Gianfranco Zola] scored the winning goal and we won.
“I always remember doing the celebrations, I always use that picture when I do some of my talks.
“And I say to people: ‘What do you see in that picture?’
“And they say: ‘Celebrations, glory.’
“And I say: ‘Resilience.’
“Because in pictures, if you see my face there, anyone who has had it can straight away, and it just says ‘resilience’ because I had the Bell’s Palsy.
“That’s one of my biggest accomplishments, hurdles, things I’ve ever overcome in my life.
“Having Bell’s Palsy and playing a major cup final and winning is the biggest thing for me.”
