And, despite playing at Euro 2004 with Russia, Alexei completed the full 90 minutes against Celtic on an incredibly hot day!
Speaking to Chelsea TV, Jose Mourinho said of Smertin "It was a wonderful goal. I think it surprised quite a few people that he is in our squad but I think he has shown the reasons why he is here.
"He is a team player, he is tactically very intelligent and he covers different positions. In the first half he played more central, in the second half he closed down the right-side space. For Smertin to play 90 minutes in these conditions is amazing.
"I feel unfair to speak about names though as every one gave a very good performance. The squad is really good; Tiago, [Didier] Drogba and [Damien] Duff were out of this game, so we can dream of good things."