‘It was in Munich where God showed

Didier Drogba, who has retired aged 40, tells Matt Law how divine aid shaped his career ‘I am a dreamer – if I have an ambition I will do anything to get there’

Didier Drogba’s eye was drawn towards the chocolate Nutella gnocchi as he glanced at the menu and sat down in a Chelsea hotel to explain why, aged 40, the time was right to announce his playing retirement.

“I could have had two of these while I was playing,” said Drogba with a smile. “You can treat yourself when training, but now I’m going to have to be careful.”

Drogba instead opted for a coffee, as he spent almost an hour discussing a career that started and finished late, taking in eight clubs, seven countries, 15 winners’ medals and was touched by a piece of divine intervention during Chelsea’s 2012 European conquest.

The late equaliser and winning penalty against Bayern Munich in the Champions League final, which proved to be the last kick of his first eight-year spell at Chelsea, in many ways characterises the fairy-tale nature of Drogba’s story.

But it is God who Drogba credits for the moment that will live with him for ever, saying: “I had some conversations with God on the pitch and that night I challenged Him and said ‘OK, if you really exist, now show me’.

“That’s how that goal came. On that last corner, I was telling God ‘now I want to see that you really exist’. So, when I scored and I ran to the corner flag, and I was looking to the sky, I was lost, I was saying ‘he does really exist’.

“That’s me and my faith, and my connection with God. That’s the only way I can explain what happened because there was no way we were going to go to Bayern Munich in front of their fans, losing 1-0, I score the equaliser, give away a penalty that Petr Cech saves, then the last kick and I score. It could have been a movie.”

Drogba’s determination to achieve his dreams was first tested as a 16-year-old, five years before he signed his first professional contract, when his father, Albert, stopped him from playing football to concentrate on his studies.

“For him, football was not as important as school,” said Drogba. “Now, everyone is pushing their kids to become football players. But my dad was like ‘no, it’s not a secure job, you get injured and you lose everything’.

“He stopped me for a year. I was 16 and if I kicked a ball it was when I was hiding. But I’m a dreamer. No matter what you say to me, if I have an ambition to do something, I will do anything to get there.

“I had to be smart, so the best way was to work well at school and keep my dad happy. And then I went to him and said ‘there’s a football team there, I just want to go and play one sport’. He said ‘OK, go’. So, I went back to the club and I went back to him and said ‘I’ve found my sport, it’s football’.”

It still took until Drogba was 22 and had forced his way into the His total career goals. The Ivorian is the only African to score more than a century of Premier League goals. Number of times he was the Premier League top scorer (2006-7 and 2009-10). Number of goals he scored against Arsenal in 15 games. first team of Ligue 2 club Le Mans that Albert changed his mind over his son’s football career. But the real turnaround came during a three-year period in which Drogba earned a move to Marseille from Guingamp and then, in 2004, joined Chelsea, where he overcame an initial fear of failure.

“When I left Marseille, 2½ years before I was a substitute in the second division in France,” said Drogba. “I scored six goals in five months. We go to the first division and play well for a year and a half, the season after you play for Marseille, the biggest club in France, and after another year ‘boom’, they take you to Chelsea, a club who became one of the biggest in the world. And I was like, ‘hmm, is it not too fast for me? Can I make it?’ I was a bit scared to fail as everything went so fast.”

Despite scoring 16 goals and helping Chelsea to their first top-flight title for 50 years during his first season at Stamford Bridge, Drogba had to be talked out of returning to Marseille by former manager Jose Mourinho.