Fans love can chain the Drog... Stamford Bridge reception key to muting Galas main man with Chelsea tie in the balance With a red woolly hat on his head and a black anorak pulled over his sweat-soaked kit, Didier Drogba dragged his tired body back on to the pitch. He waited for every one of the Chelsea team and embraced them with genuine warmth. They meet again in three weeks but he proved his competitive spirit remains unbroken and his taste for a big occasion lingers. Petr Cech always thought destiny would bring Drogba and Chelsea back into orbit. ‘Written in the stars,’ said the Chelsea goalkeeper. There has always been a sense that a higher force is somehow governing the Ivorian’s relationship with the club he left two years ago and it was even playing tricks on Jose Mourinho. As if a simple reunion was not enough, talk circled this game of a tantalising summer return to Stamford Bridge and Mourinho was caught bemoaning the quality of his strikers. Plenty of Chelsea fans in Istanbul would have swapped the 35-year-old in a flash, there and then, for Samuel Eto’o or Fernando Torres — or both — like carpet traders in the Grand Bazaar. They trust the legend to rise again, even though for long spells last night it was clear that for all his incredible powers, Drogba has not mastered the ability to reverse time. He remains an impressive athlete. He may or may not be younger than Eto’o but he is a menace, intelligent enough to choose when he does and doesn’t get involved, and no goalkeeper would ever want him climbing to head a cross. There were times in the first half when he vanished, starved of service, well policed by John Terry. It was impossible to reject the logic that he is past his best, yet still he summoned a burst of vintage Drogba as Galatasaray rallied. It was he who unsettled Chelsea’s defence when he nodded down to Selcuk Inan, who hit a post when he probably ought to have scored, and moments later, Mourinho’s solid defence was beaten by Aurelien Chedjou, who levelled the early opener from Torres. Now the Londoners must finish the task at Stamford Bridge, and to do that they must nullify Drogba. ‘He’s going to have the best reception of his life,’ said Mourinho. ‘Stamford Bridge will show the love and respect they have for a legend in our club, and during 90 minutes he wants to win. So if he wants to win, he’s not our friend for 90 minutes.’ When Drogba returned to his first love, Marseille, in a Chelsea shirt he was suffocated by the emotion, unable to perform, though it was not important to his team’s Champions League progress. It will be crucial when four sides of the Bridge rise in adulation next month, but last night he came out determined to impose his presence on the tie. Drogba never failed to show for the ball. He was there in the opening seconds, shaping to nurse his first touch away into midfield. In flashed Ramires and wiped him out from behind, a greeting direct from Sunday morning parks football. ‘Remember me, old man?’ The Turks whistled. Up he climbed from the turf and his second touch was sure, beating Terry to the ball, moving it on. This heavyweight tussle promised to be the crux. Chelsea’s defence has been exceptional for two months and Terry organises this unit. In the tunnel before the game, eyes fixed ahead, Mourinho bumped Terry from behind and whispered in his ear. Like a boxer, Terry did not flinch. He simply nodded. Message received. Galatasaray look always to their European champions, Drogba and Wesley Sneijder, for inspiration, almost as if for assurance that they belong in this company. A leader by example, Drogba would want to be there for his team. It would be important Terry was not allowed to bully him, not in physical combat, not psychologically. When Willian was left in a heap by a reckless swipe by Felipe Melo the two warhorses were in a race to offer their version of justice into referee Velasco Carballo’s shell-like. It needed a reshuffle from Roberto Mancini to swing the momentum from Chelsea but Drogba played his part. He is not the sensation he was in the first Mourinho era at Stamford Bridge, but he has a magical quality to influence results. Mourinho last night rejected the idea of bringing him in as a coach. ‘He’s a striker not a coach,’ said the Chelsea boss, but who would not like him inside their club to inspire others, share experience, supply the odd cameo from the bench? This tie is wonderfully poised for the London leg. Can Chelsea negate Drogba’s powers with love, as they did in Marseille?
Posted on: Sat, 01 Mar 2014 08:41:55 +0000
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