There was a sweet dose of nostalgia when Didier Drogba put his status as club royalty to good use and asked Eden Hazard to let him take Chelsea’s first penalty against NK Maribor on Tuesday night. Drogba had been on the pitch for only five minutes after replacing the injured Loïc Rémy and while it may have simply looked like he was doing what comes naturally to all single-minded strikers, the significance of the moment was not lost on him.
This was his first goal for Chelsea since his return in the summer, and how Drogba appreciated it came from the spot given the last act of his first spell was converting the winning penalty against Bayern Munich in the 2012 Champions League final. “When I took the penalty I was smiling because that’s the way I left the club,” Drogba said. “To start scoring with a penalty again is quite symbolic.”
Perhaps that goal will be the first of many, yet it is 886 days since Drogba sparked the celebrations for the greatest night in Chelsea’s history and all the sentimentality in the world could not obscure his rustiness against Maribor. His touch was loose, his movement cumbersome and when he was sent through on goal in the dying minutes, he lacked the pace to take advantage.
That is not Drogba’s fault. He is 36, no longer as fearsome and sprightly as he once was, and is still working his way back to peak condition after his start to the season was hindered by an ankle injury.
Chelsea, whose chief executive, Ron Gourlay, is leaving Stamford Bridge in order to “pursue new business challenges” after five years in the role, do not want to rely on a striker nearing retirement age. Drogba is not supposed to be the man they look towards pleadingly when they are struggling for inspiration. He was hoping to ease himself back in gently; a late cameo here, a start in the Capital One Cup there, maybe a humiliation of Arsenal for old time’s sake, but mostly he would be leaving the heroics to the younger generation.
But then Rémy limped off against Maribor, clutching his groin shortly after opening the scoring and adding to José Mourinho’s problems for Sunday’s trip to Manchester United. As Chelsea were already without Diego Costa, his dodgy hamstrings in need of some rest and recuperation, it was the last thing they needed.
Although Rémy said on Wednesday he hopes to be fit for United, Mourinho has ruled out both the France forward and Costa and, assuming neither play, it leaves him with ‘Old Man’ Didier and Dominic Solanke, the 17-year-old striker who made his debut as a substitute against Maribor. The other option would be to use André Schürrle as a false No9 but that experiment was unconvincing last season.
Chelsea’s five-point lead over Manchester City at the top of the Premier League owes much to the excellence of Eden Hazard, Oscar, Cesc Fàbregas and the stinginess of their defending but they would not be as formidable without Costa, who has scored nine goals in his nine games since his £32m move from Atlético Madrid. He has not trained in the past week and the memory of him limping off after 10 minutes of last season’s Champions League final heightens the need for caution.
There remains the possibility Mourinho, wary of overworking his main striker, has used this period as an opportunity to give Costa a welcome rest and that he will have recovered in time to face United after missing the wins over Crystal Palace and Maribor. There was similar talk before Chelsea travelled to City last month and Costa started. Yet the scare over Rémy’s groin highlights the one weakness in Chelsea’s squad and it would not be a surprise if Mourinho were to seek extra cover in the January transfer window.
There was a time when the sight of Drogba in Chelsea’s attack would have been enough to send a shiver down the spine of the opposition as they contemplated how they were going to deal with a player whose demeanour often suggested that it would not be a terrible inconvenience if he had to win a game on his own. He had an insistent quality, present in all the best players, and that unerring way he would impose his will on a match was never more evident than when he dragged Chelsea back into that final against Bayern.
However, Mourinho does not feel that he is ready for 90 minutes yet and Drogba did not exactly issue a battling cry when he was asked about starting against United.
“I need time because before signing here I didn’t play for two or three months, then I had this injury that kept me out for a while, so I need more games,” he said. “But I’m training hard to be back to full fitness. I’m not fit yet but with these kind of games it helps me to improve.
“It was nice to score. OK, I would have preferred to have played under different circumstances because we have an injured player and I hope he’s going to be fit for the weekend. But it was good to play 75 minutes.”
Of course, an improved Drogba would still be better than plenty of strikers in the Premier League and it would not be a disaster for Chelsea if he has to start against United. Yet if anyone is trying to pinpoint what can stop Chelsea’s momentum, the clue is in the anxiety over Costa. City will be looking on hopefully.