Didier Drogba: The Striker of Clutch Moments
The Full Club Career of Football’s Ultimate Big-Game Legend.
Written by Ricardo Garcia
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0
The date was 19 May 2012; the UEFA Champions League final match had started at the Allianz Arena in Munich. Things were not looking good for Chelsea. Playing in their own backyard, the Munich side was dominating the final. The entire match consisted of Munich attacking, attacking, and attacking. In the 83rd minute, Müller scored a header. If Petr Čech hadn’t been in goal, the London side would have probably conceded a couple of goals before this one. Chelsea fans were upset, thinking that was it—there was no way they could score with this game. Five minutes passed, and it was a corner for The Blues. Mata crossed the ball, and Didier Drogba scored a header. This is the most famous clutch moment of Drogba’s career, but it is definitely not the only one.
When Drogba finished school, he moved to Le Mans to study accountancy at university and he changed clubs, becoming an apprentice at Ligue 2 club Le Mans. During his first years there, he struggled with injuries and found it difficult to keep up physically with the training and match schedule. Former Le Mans coach Marc Westerloppe later said, ‘It took Didier four years to be capable of training every day and playing every week.’ He realised that he had to establish himself as a player soon or it would be too late for him. He showed his quality and signed his first professional contract. In 1999, Drogba made his professional debut at the age of 21 for Ligue 2 club Le Mans. He scored seven goals in 30 appearances in his first season. The following season, Drogba lost his place to Daniel Cousin due to injury. Upon his return, things weren’t looking good for him; he failed to score for the rest of that season. Finally, the following season he returned to form, scoring 5 goals in 21 appearances.
His performance at Le Mans began to attract the attention of Ligue 1 clubs. Guingamp officials began negotiations with Le Mans officials. Midway through the 2001-02 season, Guingamp formalised their interest with a transfer offer, and Drogba left Le Mans for a fee of £80,000. The rest of that season, Drogba made 11 appearances and scored 3 goals for his new team. He helped the club avoid relegation, but this was not enough to secure his place at the club. He had to show his quality once more and he did. The following season, Guingamp finished seventh, a record league finish, and Drogba played an important role by scoring 17 goals in 34 matches.
After this performance, he transferred to Champions League winners Olympique de Marseille. He played his first match on 2 August 2003, against his former club, Guingamp. He scored 19 goals in the league and 11 in European competitions. It was this season in which Drogba began to attract the attention of big clubs. At the end of the season, the newly confirmed Chelsea coach, José Mourinho, wanted to sign him. He was bought as the club’s then record signing for £24 million.
Drogba’s Chelsea career began in 2004, marking the start of his journey to becoming a legend. Drogba scored his first goal in his third game for the club with a header against Crystal Palace. He was injured in a match against Liverpool and this injury kept him off the pitch for over two months. Drogba scored 16 goals in 40 appearances for Chelsea in his first season, helping Chelsea win the Premier League. He started his second season fantastically, scoring two goals in a Community Shield win over Arsenal. Again, Drogba scored 16 goals in this season. Chelsea won the Premier League once again, becoming the second club to win back-to-back English titles in the Premier League era.
In the 2006-2007 season, Damien Duff’s transfer to Newcastle United left the number 11 shirt vacant. Drogba, who we had seen wearing number 15 shirt at Chelsea until then, took the number 11 shirt. He scored 33 goals in this season, including 20 in the Premier League to win the Golden Boot. Drogba became the first Chelsea player since Kerry Dixon in 1984-85 to reach 30 goals in a season. Among these goals, one of the most unforgettable was the goal against Liverpool. He controlled the ball on his chest with his back to goal before hitting a 20-yard half-volley on the turn. In his last competitive game that season, he scored the winning goal against The Red Devils in the first FA Cup final at the new Wembley Stadium. It was as if Drogba was waiting for the number 11 shirt to begin his prime period.
Of course, Drogba’s Chelsea career was not just about playing great games; there were also some periods when he was out of form. He had some injuries that caused setback. He was, however, the ultimate big-game player, consistently delivering in ‘clutch’ moments when it mattered most. Alongside a vast collection of individual and team honours and a catalogue of stunning goals, his time at the Bridge was also marked by some controversies. One of the controversies happened on 26 April 2008, when Drogba clashed with Manchester United defender Nemanja Vidić. Vidić had to have stitches under his lip after losing a tooth in the clash. It was debated whether Drogba intended to injure him. After this clash, everyone started to remember the incident on 26 November 2006 when Drogba elbowed Vidić. Despite all the chaos, nothing changed; Drogba’s yellow card for the clash was deemed adequate punishment by the Football Association.
On 22 May 2012, Chelsea released a note on their official website announcing that Drogba would leave the club when his contract expired at the end of June 2012. Chelsea wanted to keep its squad young and wasn’t offering contracts of more than one year to players over 30. They would not make an exception for Drogba, who was seeking a two-year deal. Three days before this, he and Čech cemented their status as heroes of the final, yet Chelsea had decided that Drogba was no longer needed. June 2012 has arrived, and Drogba and Chelsea have parted ways. Their paths would cross once again in the future.
Drogba joined China’s Shanghai Shenhua club and signed a two-and-a-half-year contract. However, he did not play a full season there, appearing in 11 games and scoring 8 goals in half a season. In January 2013, Drogba signed a one-and-a-half-year contract with the Süper Lig club Galatasaray. Unhappy with this, Shenhua released a press release stating that Drogba would be in unilateral breach of his contract if he were to join Galatasaray.
Drogba said that the club had not paid his wages and asked FIFA to invalidate his contract. FIFA granted a temporary license for him to play for Galatasaray pending the outcome of the contract dispute. In the end, Drogba came back to Europe again. On 15 February, in his debut game with Galatasaray he scored his first goal, after coming off the bench.
On 12 May, in a derby match against Fenerbahçe, things that we don’t like to see happened. Drogba and his Ivorian teammate Emmanuel Eboué were subjects of racist chants from Fenerbahçe fans. Galatasaray lost that match 2-1. Interestingly, no fine or bans were given to the supporters or the club. A couple of months later, Drogba took his revenge, scoring the only goal in the 2013 Turkish Super Cup match. With yellow and red shirt, he scored 15 goals in 37 matches, helping Galatasaray to win Süper Lig title, Turkish Cup and Turkish Super Cup.
It was in 2014 that Drogba’s path crossed with Chelsea again. History really repeats itself. Just as it was the first time, José Mourinho was the reason the transfer happened this time as well. Signing a one-year contract with the club, Drogba said the following:
“It was an easy decision. I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to work with José Mourinho again. Everyone knows the special relationship I have with this club and it has always felt like home to me.”
Drogba returned to his home. Brazilian playmaker Oscar handed over his number 11 shirt to Didier Drogba. Drogba’s first game with Chelsea after returning was an away match against Burnley. He scored 4 goals in 28 matches. On 24 May 2015, he announced that Chelsea’s final game of the season against Sunderland would be his last game as a Chelsea player. Ivorian legend started that game as a captain. In the 30th minute, he was substituted. It was pre-planned tribute for the African King. His teammates carried him off the pitch on their shoulders. In his last season with Chelsea, Drogba became Premier League champion once again. He also won the Carabao Cup with Chelsea that year.
Drogba was gradually approaching the end of his career. In the summer of 2015, he signed a designated player contract with Montreal Impact. On 5 September, Drogba scored a hat-trick on his first MLS start. It was not just regular hat-trick; he scored one goal with his left foot, one with his right foot and one with his head. It was a perfect hat-trick. His first season here was as perfect as this hat-trick. However, during the second season, his form dipped.
After his contract expired and he had spent four months as a free agent, Drogba eventually signed with USL side Phoenix Rising FC on 12 April 2017. He also became a minority owner of the club. Delivering a legendary performance on his debut, Drogba scored once and provided an assist to lead his team to a 2–1 victory. One of his most unforgettable goals for the side was undoubtedly the 40-yard free-kick he struck to lead Phoenix Rising to the club’s first ever playoff win. The Ivorian legend brought his football career to an end at the club at the age of 40. Drogba is not just a legend for the Ivory Coast or Chelsea; he is a legend of football itself.
