Chelsea 2 – 0 Galatasaray

Tuesday 18^th March from Stamford Bridge:

Chelsea 2 – 0 Galatasaray

Chelsea arrived in hell and returned unscathed. Now it was the return leg and the return of a leg (and head) that won us this very competition in Munich, 2012. Presenting Didier with an touching gift before the game was a spark of tactical genius, and it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if Mourinho had a say in it. I saw a Chelsea shirt heading into a busy London office at 8:45am. I saw one guy with a short-sleeved Chelsea shirt over a long-sleeved Chelsea shirt. Both men were heroes in my eyes. There were Drogba shirts everywhere, his name was chanted and his presence applauded. It was an emotional return.

Those who often venture to Stamford Bridge may know Chris, the pleasant chap who reads bible passages through a small microphone outside the stadium. A few rival fans began to clash on Fulham Road and Chris, ever the peacemaker, sought to split them up with his words. ‘If we disobey God’s rules and fight, God will give us the warning card, the yellow card’. I didn’t hang around to see if anyone got a red.

The match began with a Drogba-Mourinho dugout embrace and we lowered the free flags that were supplied for every seat. My friend Mark saw someone buying a flag before the game. Imagine his face as he enters Stamford Bridge to the sight of 44,000 free flags waiting on every seat. 3 minutes into the game and those free flags were flying high! Eto’o beat the offside trap, after some poor defending from the Turkish visitors, and fired Chelsea into the lead. Eto’o arrived from Russia slow and unfit, but has improved dramatically in 2014 and is becoming loved at the bridge for both his personality and his important goals.

Galatasaray had one half-chance in the game; a free kick from 40 yards and you’ll win no prizes for guessing who picked up the ball. We’ve moved the ‘Drogba, Legend’ banner in recent months and it now sits 50 yards up in the Matty Harding stand. Didier lined up, glared at the ground and smashed the free kick without an ounce of conviction. The ball sailed high over the bar, rising until it smashed straight into his very own banner. You had to wonder if he was aiming for it! If his match form and body language was anything to go by, he didn’t want to score against the club that gave him immortal status.

You expect solid defending and dangerous counter-attacking football in any Champions League tie - but Galatasaray did neither. They left Terry, Cahill and Ivanovic all on their own following a Chelsea corner. Ivanovic leapt, Terry met it first, the keeper pulled off a great save and Cahill smashed in the rebound to double our lead. From then on the tie always looked in our control and we ran out comfortable victors. Bring on the quarterfinals!