Our look at the stories behind Inter Milan’s previous visit to Stamford Bridge concludes with Didier Drogba and a night of European pain which helped fuel the Chelsea legend’s determination to bring the biggest trophy of them all to Stamford Bridge.
Our 2024 pre-season schedule concludes on Sunday 11 August when the Italian champions make just their second appearance against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. The first was in the 2009/10 Champions League and left a lasting mark on one Chelsea legend.
Drogba joined Chelsea 20 years ago today, arriving from Marseille as one of world football’s emerging world-class strikers. Fast forward five years to the 2009/10 season and he had contributed to an unprecedented spell of success for the club, lifting every trophy available in the English game.
However, one thing still eluded the Ivorian and the Blues – continental silverware, specifically the Champions League.
We had endured a series of close calls. Our previous three European campaigns had included two semi-finals and our first appearance in the final, an agonising penalty shoot-out loss to Manchester United in the first all-English decider.
Drogba’s determination to secure that trophy was clear, with several heroic performances from the striker and occasions when the emotions boiled over, most notably his red card against United in Moscow and his protests against refereeing decisions in the 2009 semi-final defeat to Barcelona.
After our stroll through the 2009/10 group stage, the next team standing between Drogba and European glory was Inter Milan, managed by his first boss at Chelsea, Jose Mourinho.
A disappointing 2-1 loss in San Siro gave us plenty of work to do in the second leg but the striker was only focused on victory when he was questioned about his chances of claiming the Golden Boot and Player of the Year awards in England before this match.
'It is a new challenge and would be great but I think we have to win something like the Champions League. It is very important for me and the club to win major trophies first and then to be Player of the Year would be fantastic.
'Tuesday is very important for the club, the Champions League is a competition we really want to win. I want to send a message to all the fans to come and make some noise on Tuesday and be behind us.'
These were no mere platitudes. Drogba was a man on a mission, as were many of his teammates at the time, to complete the Stamford Bridge trophy cabinet.
To do so, the Blues needed to overcome one of their biggest challenges yet in Inter.
While much of the media attention in England was focused on Mourinho’s return to SW6, in Didier’s native continent the match was being billed as a showdown of local stars, as newly crowned African Footballer of the Year Drogba went up against Samuel Eto’o, who had come second in the voting.
'I am very happy. I was not expecting this type of present,' Drogba said on winning the accolade. 'Eto'o is a fantastic player and I know on Tuesday he is going to come here and do his best. He had a great season but they gave the award to me and I am happy.’
Unfortunately, it was Eto’o who came out on top on Inter's visit. The Cameroon striker netted the only goal of the game as the Italians managed to blunt our usually potent attack.
Drogba would end the campaign with 37 goals in all competitions and netted three times in as many matches in the Champions League group stage, yet he couldn't add to his tally in the last-16 clash..
‘I think that Inter played a great match and they deserved to win,' he admitted. 'We didn't play the way we wanted, Inter stopped us playing and that's what made the game difficult for us.
'Probably, we missed the chance in the first match in Milan, in which we had many opportunities but we failed to score more. On the night, Inter were better than us in the second game. I think that now they can go very far in the competition.’
That was the first of Drogba’s post-match prophecies to come true, as our conquerors Inter went on to do the same to the rest of Europe, eventually beating Bayern Munich in the final to win that season’s Champions League.
But for Didier, there was to be no European glory in 2010. Instead, it was his frustration that had shown again. He was sent off late on against the Nerazzurri following a clash with Thiago Motta, as our chance of progressing faded after the striker and Branislav Ivanovic had both had strong penalty appeals waved away.
For the third year in a row, Drogba would be suspended for the start of our next European campaign.
‘It is difficult to take because the referee was a bit harsh with this red card. Yes, I stepped on his calf, but it was not intentional. I was more focused on the ball coming from the cross, so I don't think I deserved this red card.
'In the two games, we could have won at least one penalty, but maybe the referee didn't see them or feel like giving any penalties. But it is hard and I didn't really want to discuss it at the time, I just went straight into the changing room.'
Given his mood, that quick exit was probably for the best. The metal bin in the home changing room at the Bridge, which bore the brunt of Drogba’s anger and powerful right boot, remained unrepaired to display the dents and scars for many years afterward. It was a constant reminder to the players of the pain of defeat.
All of that contributed to the growing sense of unfinished business for Didier and many of his long-serving colleagues in the Blues squad.
Several of them had been together for a number of years and experienced a lot as a group, leaving them desperate to finish the story they had begun by claiming Chelsea’s first top-flight title for 50 years in 2004/05.
'We are disappointed but we have to come back stronger,’ concluded Drogba. ‘At the end of the day Inter were a better team. We couldn't play our game and they were stronger than us, but it is difficult to stop at this stage of the competition and be out.
'It is tough because every season when you start the Champions League you have a lot of belief and then to go out like this, especially at home, it's just very difficult.
'All the players here are really happy and we want to stay, we want to contribute to this adventure. It will mean a lot to win it next season together because we have been trying so hard for such a long time. I hope next season will be different for us in the Champions League.'
The dream of Drogba and several others was not just to win the Champions League with Chelsea, it was to do so alongside the teammates who had given their blood, sweat and tears to take the team to a position at the top of the English game.
The striker’s rallying call of ‘next year’ didn’t quite come true, but he was only 12 months off. That was, of course, in 2012, when it was Chelsea’s turn to defeat Bayern Munich in the Champions League final.
However, it was the feeling of now or never among the experienced members of the squad, which grew out of moments like our painful defeat to Inter in 2010, which made our eventual victory possible.
It is no coincidence that the same players who had suffered through the pain – Drogba, Frank Lampard, Petr Cech, John Terry, Branislav Ivanovic, Florent Malouda, to name just a few – were also key in 2012.
Throughout the campaign, they dragged us through epic ties against Napoli, Barcelona and Bayern by sheer force of will and refusal to accept defeat.
For Drogba, that night in Munich really was the end of the journey – at least temporarily – as he netted our equaliser and the winning penalty in his last match before leaving Chelsea.
With the redemption story complete, though, he was able to depart with his legendary status secured, having finally won it all.