Some goals count more than the others. They just do. The act of popping one in the old onion bag can and has been described in more than 100 ways by Adam Hurrey in his seminal book Football Cliches, yet the art of scoring has been magnified and glorified according to timing, place and precision.
Of the thousands of goals scored across leagues around the world, there are a handful that create a difference at the upper end of football’s hierarchy. Strikers, who bag a ton or more throughout their career, are remembered often by the sublime, often by the ridiculous, but also by the clutch goals that hand teams trophies and championships.
Didier Drogba can count himself among the few footballers known for more than a single occasion, stepping up when it mattered the most to hand his team silverware-winning moments at the end of the season.
Late bloomer
Drogba, who earlier this week announced his retirement after a 19-year-long career, was the man for the big occasion. A striker who stepped up for the biggest of games, signing a professional contract at 21 was a later start than most of his peers.
“I did not think when I started out that I would have such a long career,” he told reporters on Friday in Gurugram, where he was promoting Yokohama Tyres as its global ambassador. “It was so quick, everything went so fast.”
The Ivory Coast striker was a rarity in the modern game, one who did not graduate from a football academy. A troubled childhood led him to France at the age of five and back again to his native country.
Joining a semi-professional outfit at 18, it wasn’t clear if Drogba, a man not brought in through the established channels of youth football, would survive the rigours of the professional leagues.
He would finally make his mark with Guingamp in Ligue 1, scoring 17 league goals at the age of 24, the first time he would cross double digits in a season. Marseille came calling in the summer of 2003, and Drogba scored 32 in all competitions for Les Olympiens, forcing Chelsea and Roman Abramovich to splash the cash.
The man for the big occasion
A late bloomer, Drogba didn’t set the Premier League on fire in his first two seasons. His struggles draw a parallel to that of Alvaro Morata’s who he advocated patience for. “Morata is a great goal-scorer,” Drogba said. “He has scored goals for Juventus, Real Madrid, Spain. He needs time.”
Two league titles arrived under Jose Mourinho, but a bond was forged between manager and player, that would see the Portuguese opt to re-sign him for Chelsea at the age of 36 in 2014. Drogba’s contribution in his first two league campaigns with Chelsea were 10 and 12 goals respectively. He would score 20 or more for Chelsea twice in his eight-year-long first stint.
The first of those came in the 2006-’07 campaign, which followed Ivory Coast’s first-ever appearance at a World Cup. Drogba scored the first goal in his country’s history in a 2-1 loss to Argentina.
Mourinho’s first departure from Chelsea in 2008 had caused unrest in Drogba’s mind but he would stick on for five more years, culminating in a Champions League triumph. He would score Chelsea’s goal against Bayern Munich at the home of the German giants in the 2011-’12 final, a moment that he rates as his finest in a Chelsea shirt. In the 2008 final, against Manchester United, he had been sent off before John Terry fluffed a decisive penalty in the shootout; in 2012, Drogba was around to finish the job.
His record in finals is phenomenal, bagging 10 goals in as many matches. Wembley was a second home for Drogba in England; his eight goals is only behind the Tottenham-trio of Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Heung-Min Son in the list of scorers at the stadium. Given that Spurs have made the stadium their temporary league base, Drogba’s record should be seen in its own light.
A nightmare for Premier League defenders
Over the years, Premier League defenders developed a grudging respect for the Drog. Jamie Carragher, Nemanja Vidic, all felt the force of the pinged finishes, battering ram and the shithousery which the striker displayed.
“The strongest defenders, I never came up against them, but I played them every week in training,” Drogba said, laughing. “When I faced John Terry, Ricardo Carvalho and Alex, I looked forward to the weekend.”
Stints with Shanghai Shenhua and Galatasaray followed before a return to Chelsea and a re-union with Mourinho. A fourth league title later, Drogba headed to Major League Soccer side Montreal Impact. He ended up co-owning and finishing his career with United Soccer League side Phoenix Rising.
As of now, the focus remains on obtaining an MLS license with Phoenix Rising but the thought of coaching a side hasn’t completely left his mind, with John Terry and Frank Lampard making their way up the management ladder.
“When two of your friends are going there, obviously you sit at home and think, ‘Maybe that’s what I should do.’ I’m going to go home and think a little more about it. That [coaching] could be interesting,” he said, with a twinkle in his eyes.
Drogba finished his career with more Champions League and Premier League goals than any other African player, inspiring a generation of young strikers at the same level that George Weah and Samuel Eto’o did.
A peak into that big-game mentality will be missed sorely on pitches in world football but would not go amiss on the touchline and in the dressing rooms. Have a big final coming up? Didier would understand and know.
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