Didier Drogba – a legend remembered

Leader. Legend. Beast: Didier Drogba. (Getty Images)

My first memories of Didier Drogba are from the season before he signed for Chelsea in 2003/04.

I remember watching him score a hat-trick in the Champions League group stage for Marseille, and then terrorising Newcastle and Liverpool in the UEFA Cup (as it was then) later on in the season.

Being 13-years-old, it’s difficult to have a true mature knowledge of football, even though I’d been watching it at the Bridge with my old man for a few years before then. So if you watch a player have a couple of monstrous games the first few times you see them, he automatically becomes a world beater in your mind.

From then on I’d bang on about him quite frequently to my mates at school. “That Drogba at Marseille is unbelievable, we should sign him.” Obviously at that time we were in our first season of the new Roman era and were getting linked with just about every player known to man.

I didn’t hold out much hope of this specific one turning up with all the other rumours flying around. Fast forward to the summer of 2004, and he did in fact turn up for the hefty fee of £24m, a club record at the time. I was about as excited as you can get.

He started off by scoring in a pre-season game against Roma on the tour of America, then followed it up in the next game against AC Milan with one of the most powerful headers I think I’ve ever seen (reminiscent of THAT header in Munich).

My excitement grew even more. An assist for Eidur Gudjohnsen on his full debut against United gave us 3 points in Jose’s first competitive game in charge. After that he managed to bag his first few goals for us before missing a chunk of the season because of an injury.

He returned in the new year to help us win the League Cup against Liverpool in Cardiff, starting a ridiculous run of cup final goals. Then helped us to win our first league title in 50 years.

His best performances of the season came against Bayern Munich to take us into the semi-final of the Champions League. He was an absolute monster at the Bridge in the first leg, and scored another brilliant header in the second to take us through.

They couldn’t handle him. It was Drogba in full beast mode, and something we’d start to see on a regular basis in the big games over the coming years. He ended up with 16 goals for the season, which was a pretty decent return in his first season in England after the injury and being rotated with Eidur up front.

Drogba’s second season was an up and down one. At the beginning of it I felt that this would be the season we’d see a consistently world-class beast running riot in the Premier League, but it wasn’t quite the case (yet). Again there were a few unplayable games.

One that stands out for me was the 4-1 win at Anfield towards the beginning of the season. He absolutely destroyed them that day. He didn’t score himself but had a big hand in all four goals. Jamie Carragher needed to buy a ticket to get back in the ground at one stage, he was that dominant.

Later on in the campaign he was involved in quite a bit of controversy on the pitch. Heavily criticised for his diving antics and a couple of handball incidents against Fulham and Manchester City.

In that Man City game he had one of his most difficult moments at the club. I remember sitting in the East Lower as he picked up the ball and ran a few yards before falling to the ground rather theatrically.

We all knew he was playacting and couldn’t understand why, and it ended up that quite a large portion of our own support would boo and whistle at him to get up off the floor. It was embarrassing for us.

We didn’t want to see one of our own rolling around like he’d been shot in the back en route to goal. Didier got the message, loud and clear. The fans definitely hadn’t taken to him as much as he would have liked.

Jose Mourinho (L) with Drogba in 2007. (Getty Images)

The closest he got to a song was some old bloke a few rows in front of me screaming “Who let the Drog out?”, which got a few *woofs* in response, more in amusement at the song than support for the player.

The 05/06 season ended in the same way as the previous one. Champions of England, and looking formidable in doing it. Drogba ended with the same tally of 16 goals, but this time from a few more games. We wanted more. We got it.

The 2006/07 season was one of two that stand out in the big man’s Chelsea career in terms of goal-scoring and world-class performances. It was the summer that Andriy Shevchenko arrived for £30m, and after an up and down first 2 years I wasn’t sure how much longer Drogba would last with us.

I really thought he’d struggle to even get in the team with such a big name coming in for that amount of money. Don’t think I could have been any more wrong. As we all found out, It was Sheva that struggled to cope, but we won’t get in to that.

The Drog turned on the style by pretty much mauling any defence he came up against. He scored just about every type of goal you can imagine over the season. Plenty of important ones, plenty of ridiculous ones.

Liverpool at home with his left foot outside the box whilst doing a full 180 degree spin was my personal favourite. Unfortunately Drogba’s best season to date wasn’t the team’s best. Mainly due to cocking up in a few games over Christmas we couldn’t retain the title and finished second to United.

But it did still go down as a very successful season after we managed to win both domestic cup competitions. Winning 2-1 in Cardiff against the Gooners to take the League Cup and 1-0 in the first FA Cup final at the new Wembley against United. Drogba got all three of our goals in the two finals.

It was clear by now that he was a big game player and we relied on him heavily to come up with the goods. Along with Petr Cech, John Terry and Frank Lampard he gave us the strongest spine in world football. Overall he got 33 goals for the season and took the golden boot in the league. The fans had certainly taken to him now.

“Didier Drogba, la la la…” coming from the stands at every match. The beast was woken. He could only go from strength to strength. Bring on the next season.

Of course it wasn’t all plain sailing with Didier, and the next two seasons were up and down to say the least. Mourinho departed early in the 07/08 campaign and it left a huge hole in the club, especially some of the players.

Drogba arguably felt it the most. We were struggling in the league but just about managed to keep things alive in all competitions under the stewardship of Avram “Larry Grayson” Grant until the new year.

The team’s form picked up and so did Drogba’s. He scored yet another cup final goal against Tottenham in the League Cup at Wembley but unfortunately we’d go on to lose that day. He pretty much single-handedly turned a game on its head against Arsenal in the league by grabbing two late goals in a 2-1 win (battering them was becoming quite a trend by this point).

He also popped up with two goals in the Champions League semi-final 2nd leg against Liverpool to take us to our first ever final in that competition. Then came another difficult moment. At 1-1 in extra time in the final against United in Moscow, he slapped Nemanja Vidic across the face and got himself sent off.

Still to this day I don’t know why he did it, but he did. Would we have gone on to win the penalty shoot out if he was still on the pitch? Maybe. He was supposedly meant to be taking the 5th penalty that JT took after all.

So after a pretty mental season at the club, we ended up winning nothing for the first time in 4 years. Narrowly losing out in the Premier League and Champions League to United, the League Cup to Spurs, and throwing away the FA Cup in a quarterfinal shambles at Barnsley. Drogba got 15 goals, less than half of the previous season.

Many including me thought that image of him walking off after being shown the red card in Moscow would be the last we saw of him in a blue shirt. Wrong again.

Out went Grant. In came Luiz Scolari. The team started off the 08/09 season strongly but quickly ran into a brick wall. For whatever reason Scolari and Drogba never saw eye to eye, and the manager would more often than not pick Nicolas Anelka in front of Drogba.

Drogba celebrates with the trophy in 2010 after Chelsea beat Wigan 8-0 to win on the final day to claim the championship. (Getty Images)

He made it quite clear in more recent interviews that this period along with Mourinho leaving were the most difficult for him at Chelsea. He contemplated leaving the club in the January transfer window but eventually ended up staying.

We were way off the pace in the league and Scolari was given his marching orders in February with the Champions League just about to kick off again. Guus Hiddink was brought in to steady the ship, and he did just that. Didier was back in favour and netted in both legs of our last 16 Champions League tie against Juventus. Then did the same in both legs of the dramatic quarterfinal win over Liverpool.

He scored the winner in the FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal at Wembley before yet more controversy. Barcelona came to the bridge for the second leg of the Champions League semi-final after drawing the first 0-0 over there. We were dominant, Drogba was dominant. They couldn’t live with us.

Despite that we only had the one goal to show for it and were up against one of the worst refereeing performances I’ve ever seen. I still think the whole thing was a conspiracy. UEFA didn’t fancy an all English final two years on the spin. Four blatant penalty shouts turned down and an inevitable late equaliser meant more European heartache. Drogba lost it and proceeded to shout into a TV camera “It’s a disgrace. It’s a disgrace.”

It certainly was Drogs. But UEFA decided to ban him for the start of the following Champions League campaign anyway. He did manage to end the season on a bright note though, scoring a headed equaliser in the FA Cup final against Everton at Wembley.

We went on to win 2-1 after Lamps got the winner in the second half. So this time we had a trophy to show for another crazy season. 3rd in the League and an FA Cup win was a good return for Hiddink considering how much we were struggling when he came in. But he decided to keep his word and not take the job on a permanent basis. Didier ended the season with 14 goals.

2009/10 was a historic season for the club, and it was Drogba’s best in terms of goals. Carlo Ancelotti took the reigns and we started off with a 2-1 home win against Hull, with Drogba getting both goals.

We stayed top of the pile over the next couple of months and proved our title credentials at The Emirates at the end of November. The beast tormented Arsenal again, scoring two great goals in a 3-0 romp.

Results turned a bit inconsistent before and after the new year as we had our annual “bad moment”. Didier went off to the African Cup of Nations with the Ivory Coast before coming back in February to lead the line in the Champions League knockout phase. Unfortunately more disappointment came as Jose’s Inter knocked us out in the last 16.

Didier was sent off in the second leg in what was becoming a familiar story in that competition. This time though, things would get better as the season went into the latter stages. We managed to fight out of our bad form and start hammering just about everybody. Didier was at the forefront of it. Two goals in a 5-0 win at Portsmouth started it off.

We then smashed seven past Villa before heading to Old Trafford for a potential title decider. We were second but would go top with a win. Guess who got the winner? You got it. Drogba came off the bench to get our second in a 2-1 win.

He was a good yard offside but do we care? Not particularly. Mr Wembley then grabbed another in the semi-final of the FA Cup in a late flurry against Aston Villa. 3-0 and we were into another final. After that we scored seven again, this time against Stoke before going to Anfield in the penultimate game of the season.

Drogba celebrates with the cup after the FA Cup match against Liverpool at Wembley Stadium in 2012. (Getty Images)

We had a one point lead with two games to go. Wigan at home was the last game, so we knew this one was the one that should see us to the title. After a cagey start, Stevie G, himself played in Drogba when trying to pass the ball back to his ‘keeper, and the beast took advantage by putting us one up.

Lamps got the second and we won 2-0. One win against Wigan and we’d be Champions again. Plus with our FA Cup Final being against relegated Portsmouth we had a massive chance to make history and win our first league and cup double. Wigan didn’t provide much resistance.

Just the eight goals later and we were Champions again. Drogba got a second half hat-trick and won himself the golden boot in the process. The double was completed the following week when we beat Portsmouth 1-0 at Wembley. Drogba scored it, you know the drill. 37 goals despite missing a month on international duty. Not bad at 32-years-old.

Unfortunately a season to forget followed for player and team. Drogba started where he left off the previous season with a hat-trick in the first game, and causing havoc in the next few.

It wasn’t long before it started to go wrong though. After a few poor games It came out in the press that Drogba had been badly struggling with malaria. Quite a serious illness that would plague him for the next couple of months.

The team were going through a pretty terrible run of form and were in danger of even missing out on a Champions League place. Roman decided to splash £70m on deadline day on Fernando Torres and David Luiz in the January window to try and save our season.

We were out of both domestic cups, struggling in the league and not far off resuming the Champions League campaign. Thankfully results picked up and we actually got within touching distance of the top with 3 games to go.

But were deservedly beaten at Old Trafford and United went on to win the league, as well as knocking us out of the Champions league a few weeks earlier. It was a poor season in truth. Ancelotti got his marching orders just 12 months after winning the double. Didier got 13 goals for the season and entered into the final year of his contract.

For 2011/12, Roman took a punt on young Portugese manager Andre Villas-Boas after an unbeaten league win at Porto. His job was to bring a new style of football to the club. Ease out the old guard and bring through a younger, more technical style of player rather than the more powerful approach we’d used in previous years.

Drogba was one of that old guard and started off the season playing second fiddle to Torres. A scary moment for him came in the third league game against Norwich. After coming off the bench he clattered into their goalkeeper and sprawled out unconscious on the pitch. It definitely shook him and everyone else up. He was carried off on a stretcher and missed the next few games with a concussion.

We were struggling for results in the league and Europe and needed to beat Valencia to avoid going out at the group stage of the Champions League, AVB chose Didier over £50m Torres and it paid off. Big game Drogba was back, he tormented Valencia from start to finish.

Drogba celebrates after scoring his teams goal during UEFA Champions League Final against Bayern Muenchen on May 19, 2012 in Munich, Germany. (Getty Images)

It was the old Drogba in full force again. Two goals, 3-0 win, safely through to the knockout stage. More up and down form in the new year left us struggling in the league and AVB was walking on thin ice. The Russian reluctantly gave him his marching orders after losing 3-1 at Napoli in the 1st leg of the Champions League last 16, and 1-0 at West Brom in the league.

The legend that is Robbie Di Matteo, assistant to AVB, was asked to take over until the end of the season. We all know what happened next, but it’s still hard to believe. Napoli came to the bridge for the second leg, Di Matteo went back to the old guard. Cech, Terry, Lampard, Drogba; that spine, that spirit, that leadership. Drogba was a menace.

He scored the opener and led the line in typical bulldozer fashion. We turned it around. 4-1 after extra time. What a night. Benfica were dispatched in the following round to set up another semi with the old enemy Barcelona.

We were losing ground on the top four so the players knew they might have to win the Champions League to be in it next season. But before that tie with Barca, there was the small matter of an FA Cup semi with Tottenham at Wembley to think about. Unbelievably we went and stuffed them 5-1. Drogba started. Drogba scored.

Standard procedure now. One of his best ever. Long ball up field, took it on his chest and wallop. Left foot, top corner. FA Cup Final spot secured, it was time for Barca. Backs to the wall for pretty much an entire 180 minutes in one of the most mental ties I’ve ever seen (and there’s been a few).

First leg we somehow kept a clean sheet and won 1-0. Drogba got it. Second leg, 2-0 down, down to 10 men in the Nou Camp. We’re out. Surely we’re out. Everyone including Drogba worked their backs off and somehow managed to grab a 2-2 draw from an impossible situation to take us to the final.

He even managed to give away a penalty from his adopted left back position and get away with it (that Messi of all people missed). One of the best nights I’ve ever had as a Chelsea fan. Surely we can’t better that.

I’m not having it. Bayern Munich in their own stadium would be waiting in the final. Before that final, we had another one. FA Cup at Wembley again. Another old enemy, Liverpool. We won it 2-1. Eventual winning goal coming from…(seriously) Drogba. We finished a very disappointing 6th in the league. So no Champions League football next season, unless…

So there we were, with four players suspended up against world-class opposition in their own backyard, it was backs to the wall again. Two centre-backs that hadn’t played football in over a month because of injuries. A right side consisting of Bosingwa and Kalou. Ryan Bertrand starting his first ever Champions League match in a final. Ludicrous. It really is. I was stood at the back of the Chelsea end in the top tier of the Allianz absolutely bricking it from start to finish.

When they made it 1-0 that late on I thought it was all over, everyone did. We managed to grab our first corner of the whole match heading towards injury time. Mata took it, there was only one bloke ever getting on the end of it. What a header. He is the definition of big game player. 1-1, extra time.

You’d think it couldn’t get anymore dramatic wouldn’t you. Drogba gives away a penalty again. I just couldn’t believe my eyes. When Cech saved it my Dad turned to me and said “we’ve won this, our name is on that cup.” Extra time finished level and it was penalties. As if we hadn’t had enough already.

We missed our first, they scored their first three. Germans v English. Here we go again. Wait there, more defying logic to come. Cech saves their next two and we’ve got a penalty to win it. Who’s turn is it? If you hadn’t seen it for yourself you would think I’d made this whole story up myself.

Drogba scores the winning penalty against Manuel Neuer during UEFA Champions League Final between FC Bayern Muenchen and Chelsea on May 19, 2012 in Munich, Germany. (Getty Images)

It’s that crazy. So with potentially his last ever kick of a ball for Chelsea FC, Didier stepped up and slotted it into the bottom corner. The single best moment of my life, hands down. A minute of going absolutely mental then broke down in tears of joy. All those years of pain in the Champions League gone in a single moment. Amazing.

A few days after all the celebrations back home, Drogba announced that he was leaving. We all expected it, but it was still an emotional day. Eight unbelievable years. I honestly can’t thank the man enough for giving me some of the best moments of my life.

At his best he’s the most unplayable centre forward I’ve seen, without a doubt. Tormenting Arsenal and Liverpool in particular. 9 goals in 9 cup finals, 157 goals in 341 games overall. Our 4th highest goalscorer of all time, and arguably our most important player of all time. Thank you for the memories Didier, Chelsea legend forever.