Chelsea news: Didier Drogba names his favourite former teammate; picks best defenders he's played against

What's the story?

Recently retired Chelsea legend Didier Drogba has revealed the name of his favourite former teammate, while also picking the best defenders he has played against in his career.

In case you didn't know...

The Ivorian striker moved away from Chelsea in 2012 only to rejoin the club two years later and helped his side win the Premier League under Jose Mourinho.

The 40-year-old ended a trophy-laden career when he announced his retirement recently.

Drogba boasts of having played with the likes of Michael Ballack, Arjen Robben, John Terry and Eden Hazard in the course of his career but the striker only has one favourite.

The heart of the matter

Drogba has named fellow legend Frank Lampard as his best teammate at Stamford Bridge.

Speaking at a Chelsea fan event in Tokyo (via Metro UK), the former striker said, "There's one that I'm going to put a bit more in front because most of my goals came from him, it's Frank Lampard."

"Also because every day after training we were staying on the pitch trying to practise, trying to create some exercises because the ones we did a few days ago were becoming too easy."

"So, we were trying to bring in new exercises and that's how we progressed and challenged each other to score goals, to create assists and for me I learned a lot from him."

The former Chelsea star has also named Barcelona duo Gerard Pique and Carles Puyol as well as Manchester United pair Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic as the best defenders he's ever faced in his career.

Drogba said, "It’s very difficult for me to say one that I played against because most of the time I was playing against two defenders, so one of the best pair I played against was Vidic and Ferdinand,’ he told Sky Sports. ‘And the other one was [Carles] Puyol and Pique."

What's next?

We are yet to see if Drogba will return to football as a managerial figure. The former striker has revealed that he is open to such a role after having learned from the likes of Carlo Ancelotti and Jose Mourinho.