Prior to making his long-awaited return to Stamford Bridge, Didier Drogba admitted he had not decided whether he would celebrate scoring against Chelsea. In his pre-match press conference, Jose Mourinho refused to rule out the possibility of Drogba coming back to Stamford Bridge as a player when he becomes a free agent again this summer. But then Mourinho also said he did not believe this match would be over by half-time. Less than four minutes after the referee had blown his whistle it became abundantly clear just why Mourinho had identified Galatasaray as his preferred opponents in the Champions League round of 16. And for all the sentimental talk of the past few days, it had little to do with Drogba.
When Felipe Melo, a man presumably born on a final warning, left Eden Hazard in acres of space from a Chelsea throw-in, the Belgian skipped away from his opponent’s desperate recovery charge with typical ease and fed the ball to Oscar, who found Samuel Eto’o in the kind of space he still has a knack of ghosting into these days, despite the blistering pace of old having long since deserted him. The Cameroonian’s finish was as clinical and assured as any in his illustrious career and despite changing little about their task at hand, it sapped the belief from Galatasaray.
Even when not directly troubling Fernando Muslera, Eto’o’s intelligence and experience provided a platform on which Hazard, Oscar and Willian could torment a hapless Galatasaray defence. It was his misfortune that none of Chelsea’s creators made the most of his good work on this most comfortable of European nights, and one suspects a significant improvement will be needed against what is almost certain to be formidable quarter-final opposition.
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