Didier Drogba has been a magnificent servant to the club and deserves his final moment in the spotlight as Chelsea bids farewell to a man who has been their hero on multiple occasions. Drogba finishes his career at Chelsea with multiple trophies and 126 goals to his name. With the Blues' recent win in the UEFA Champions League, Drogba has won all four major titles—the Premier League, the FA Cup, the League Cup and now the Champions League. He has also won the Golden Boot Award twice in his time in the English Premier League. Simply put, he has done it all, and will surely go down as one of Chelsea's greatest strikers in history. Like every other player in the world, he has had his moments of failure and disappointment but has also had his moments on top of the world with success and glory.
Here are the ten greatest moments from the magnificent career of Didier Drogba.
Completing the trophy cabinet with Champions League success:
He has won the Champions League, the FA Cup, the League Cup and the English Premier League and joins an elite group of players to do so. He will go down as one of the greatest strikers in the modern game as his legacy at Chelsea continues to live on.
1 First Ivorian to Score at the World Cup:
Drogba is a national icon for the people of Cote D'ivoire. He was the country's top scorer in the Qualifying rounds of the 2006 World Cup campaign, which was the first time the country managed to reach the World Cup finals. Drawn in a difficult group consisting of Argentina and Netherlands along with Serbia and Montenegro, the Ivorian squad would revel in the experience of what many pundits labeled 'the group of. The Ivory Coast side only managed to beat Serbia and Montenegro to finish third in the group losing to both Argentina and Netherlands. They gave a good account of themselves losing both encounters 2-1. But Drogba had his moment in the first game of their World Cup campaign against Argentina, where he scored in the 82nd minute to score what was his first World Cup goal and notably the first-ever goal by the Ivory Coast in the premier tournament.
Scores winning penalty in 2012 UEFA Champions League vs. Bayern Munich:
Drogba made it count by winning the UEFA Champions League—slotting home the winning penalty. After scoring in regular time, Drogba created history by winning the Champions League for Chelsea and bowed out of the game as one of the club's greatest ever servants.
Scores winning goal in 2007 FA Cup vs. Manchester United:
After no goals for 115 minutes of play, the 2007 FA Cup Final between Chelsea and Manchester United was destined to go to penalties. That was until Drogba showed up, and won the trophy for the Blues.
2009 FA Cup Final:
He scored in four different FA Cup Finals and even scored in both the League Cup and FA Cup final two years before this one. In the FA Cup Final vs Everton, he netted in a 2-1 win to bring Chelsea level and with it returned himself to the most valued striker in Chelsea's lineup. Drogba's never say die attitude is what Jose Mourinho claimed is the former Chelsea man's greatest ability. The equalizing goal which inspired a comeback reinforced his ability to fight when the chips were not in his favor.
Winning goal and Man of the Match Award in 2007 League Cup vs. Arsenal:
Starting to develop a knack for scoring big goals in even bigger games, Drogba's brace against Arsenal in the 2007 League Cup final showed once more why he was such an important player to Chelsea. He was named Man of the Match for his performance, with the winning goal in the final ten minutes of play over Chelsea's fiercest rivals a moment to savor forever.
Scores wonder goal vs. AC Milan in 2009: Kids, you can try this one at home, just don't expect to be able to do it. Drogba's incredible strike from around 35 yards against AC Milan in 2009 remains his greatest goal ever and one of the top moments of his career.
2011-12 Champions League Final:
Chelsea was having a very miserable domestic campaign by their lofty standards and were managed by interim manager Roberto di Matteo. At the Allianz Arena, the venue of the final, Chelsea had managed to drag themselves to the final to face hosts Bayern München, who were in a superb run of form. Bayern took the lead despite what pundits decried as the most 'anti-football' display in history by Chelsea. The Blues lacked creativity and nothing seemed to work going forwards. Chelsea had some key players missing including Captain John Terry and midfielders Ramires and Raul Meireles apart from Branislav Ivanovic. A corner in the 88th minute saw Drogba leap and send the Chelsea fans into pandemonium with an equalizer. Extra-time saw both teams failing to score and the game went to penalties. Drogba scored the decisive spot-kick in sudden death to win the Champions League for Chelsea, the first London club to do so.
Scores hat-trick on the final day to claim 2010 English Premier League:
Needing a win on the final day of action to win the 2010 English Premier League, Drogba netted a hat-trick and was named Man of the Match in Chelsea's 8-0 drubbing of Wigan Athletic.
100th Premier League Goal:
Drogba is a bonafide legend of the modern game. In 2011-12, he became the first African to score 100 English top-flight goals. He had already scored more than a hundred goals in all competitions for Chelsea two years ago. His goal came in a mixed final campaign of his first spell at the club. He entered the 100 clubs against Stoke in a routine 1-0 win. He turned in a low volley from Juan Mata's cross to land the landmark goal in March 2012. Drogba's goal set him up for the record books as well as he entered the Top 25 Goalscorers of all time in the Premier League era. He would not score any more in the league that campaign but would add four more in his second spell at the West London club to take his tally to 104. The emergence of Romelu Lukaku and Harry Kane has relegated Drogba to 27th on the all-time scorer's list, which does not reflect the importance his goals had for Chelsea in their most successful decade in history.
