Didier Drogba has said former club Chelsea are "10 times better" than
his current side, Galatasaray, ahead of the teams' Champions League
meeting in Istanbul on Wednesday.
"Are Chelsea better than
Galatasaray? Yes, they are 10 times better," the Galatasaray striker,
now 35, told the BBC on the eve of the last 16 clash.
"If I play
it is to win. It will be tough but Juve were better than us, so anything
can happen. If there's a one percent chance of us winning. I'll believe
it."
Drogba spent eight years at Chelsea, scoring 157 goals in
342 games and won three Premier League titles, four FA Cups, two League
Cups and also scored the winning penalty against Bayern Munich in the
2012 Champions League final -- his final kick in a Blues shirt.
"It will be difficult," he said of playing against London club Chelsea.
"You
don't stay eight years in a place you don't like, especially in
football -- it is very emotional. I love Chelsea but I play for
Galatasaray now and I will give everything for them.
"When you're
happy at a club, you want to stay forever," said Drogba who joined
Chelsea from Marseille for 24 million ($40m, 29m euros) in July 2004.
"But sometimes you can't do everything you want to do. I am proud of what I achieved."
Asked
about the possibility of working again with Chelsea manager Jose
Mourinho, the Ivory Coast forward said: "They say in French 'avec des
si. Rome ne s'est pas construite en un jour' (there are lots of ifs.
Rome wasn't built in a day). It is only if and if and if. We are not
there yet."
And he insisted he was happy working under current boss Roberto Mancini, the former Manchester City manager.
"They're
very different, two different personalities but with the same
mentality. They want to win, they want to win trophies. They are
winners."
But he said he was still friendly with Mourinho.
"There
is a lot of respect. When there is somebody that important, who looks
at you like a friend, you forget that he is 'The Special One' and you
are the striker. "It is a man-to-man relationship, a friendship.
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