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Right backs don’t typically boast a catalogue of memorable goals.

But Branislav Ivanovic had always offered more than your average full back in his nine years at Chelsea… starting with an Anfield brace in the Champions League, furthered by an extra-time winner against Napoli and capped by a Europa League final decider in Amsterdam.

Until a humbling decline in his last 18 months in west London, the departing Serbian defender was a defining, dominant force in the Blues’ trophy-winning teams of the last decade. Chelsea always knew they could rely on Ivanovic.

Branislav Ivanovic scores in his farewell appearance for Chelsea against Brentford

Ivanovic celebrates after scoring his 34th and final goal after nine years in west London

As they crumbled last season that confidence would prove costly when his form fell away but, having signed off before his move to Zenit St Petersburg with another goal last weekend, the better times will last as his legacy.

That strike against Brentford in the FA Cup, typically powerful and after a gut-busting run, was his 34th for Chelsea. In the Premier League he finishes with 22 — sixth of all defenders in the top flight since 1992, excluding penalties.

Wingers and forwards regularly named the 32-year-old among their toughest opponents and both of Ivanovic’s two title-winning campaigns saw him named in the PFA Team of the Year.

Opponents admired his toughness and tenacity on the right hand side, offering the strength that most other teams could not boast in that area of the defence.

The Serbian has joined Zenit St Petersburg on a two-and-a-half year deal

Ivanovic and his agent Zoran Krneta hold up the Zenit shirt on his arrival 

John Terry has paid tribute to his former team-mate and defensive partner

And Roman Abramovich has been a long-term fan too — Ivanovic is one of a select group of players to have had a direct line to the Chelsea owner.

Jose Mourinho called him ‘a competitive animal with a big heart’. It was a reputation honed by consistency and subsequent steps up on the big occasions.

A dominant defensive warrior; sat atop the crossbar of the Amsterdam ArenA, having risen to float a 90th-minute header into the corner for Chelsea’s second European trophy in 12 months in 2013, will be the image that sticks of Ivanovic’s time at Stamford Bridge.

And Ivanovic’s efforts in the great defensive barrier away in Barcelona a year previous as Roberto Di Matteo’s team held out for a place in the Champions League final should not be brushed over for a memory of the cruel revelation that he would miss the showpiece through suspension, either.

Ivanovic scored a number of vital goals including a winner at Manchester City in 2014

Ivanovic scored a last-gasp winner in the 2013 Europa League final with a looping header

Ivanovic celebrated Chelsea's Europa League triumph by partying on the crossbar

The Serb slides to the ground after Chelsea dumped Barcelona out of the Champions League

Ivanovic celebrates with John Terry after scoring a crucial goal against Napoli in 2012

Of course, he hammered home to seal the last-16 comeback against Napoli at Stamford Bridge that campaign — popping up in the box to everyone’s surprise, again — on the route to Chelsea’s greatest triumph, too.

Under Mourinho, he was a huge part of the 2014-15 Premier League triumph — starting every game and bustling up that right flank as part of the free-scoring side in the first half of the season before they became a stout defensive unit in the second half.

Ivanovic was Chelsea’s Mr Reliable. But when he lost that status last season it was the beginning of the end. Now, the Premier League leaders are losing a staple of influence in their dressing room.

With John Terry earmarked for the exit in the summer and John Mikel Obi having already departed, the blocks of what existed before are being cast off quickly by Antonio Conte. 

He, too, recognised Ivanovic’s influence and talents while acknowledging that he was a faded force at the highest level.

Having signed from Lokomotiv Moscow for £10million in 2008, the Serbian hard-man returns to Russia with Zenit but with his place in Chelsea legacy secured.

Ivanovic scored his first goals for the club in a Champions League win over Liverpool in 2009