Football

1. Drogba, on the other hand, showed real class, first by commiserating with the Bayern players, in particular Robben, Lahm & Schweinsteiger, and second by taking the cup over to RA, who, after all, paid for the players who won it. An ex of mine is a free-lance snapper, and did a shoot with Drogba for a french mag. She said he was absolutely lovely, had no airs, no minders, and no 'big man' attitude. I know he's not popular with fans of other clubs, and I remember how much stick he got when he first came to Chelsea, all that crap about what a waste of money he was, that he was hopeless, worse than a Sunday league player, i.e. all the sort of utter rubbish that utterly clueless armchair 'players' come out with based on a totally shallow appreciation of the game.
   
   

What a player he has shown himself to be. Only a total fool could not now accord the title of a true great of the modern game. Arsene Wenger said 'great players win games; all the rest is just talk'. That is exactly what he did last night. It hurts me to say it, but he was brilliant last night.

I think there are still a lot of unsavoury aspects to his game, but what changed my mind about him was the Barca game in 2009, his 'it's a fucking disgrace' and how outraged he clearly was. He obviously does have a lot of commitment to the club, which is unusual nowadays, and he does seem a very likeable chap off the pitch.

Perhaps it's having a couple of good friends who are Chelsea fans, who I've seen most of the big games with over the last few years, but I was pleased to see them do well last night, especially as for once it didn't mean having to pretend John Terry wasn't playing. Great atmosphere in the Earl of Camden.