In Didier Drogba’s return to Stamford bridge with Galatasaray, his former side dominated and controlled the match for the whole 90 mins as the Turkish champions are eliminated from the champions league by Mourinho’s Chelsea. The second leg wasn’t as tight as it was expected to get as Jose Mourinho master planned a tactic to remain their star performers silent all night. Meanwhile, our star performers in big games in addition to almost every player in the starting 11 except Petr Cech (who was untested for most of the game) performed exceptionally well.

It’s a victory and a passage that sent huge relief under Mourinho’s view after last Saturday’s embarrassment at Villa park caused by Chris Foy’s horrific refereeing. With all the positives to take out from this game unlike the last outing against Aston Villa in the league, let’s take a look what this edition’s what we learned and the main points to take away from this win….

King Didier will always ‘remain in our hearts’: 

As displayed beautifully by Chelsea fans at the Stamford Bridge, our legend will always remain in our hearts no matter where he plays or where he is at. His ovation when he made his way out of the tunnel was so immense and emotional to the Ivorian hit man. He didn’t score or cause any problems to our back line unluckily for him. But, the respect his former team mates have for him was so beautiful to see as he embraced with all the players after the final whistle. We surely won’t forget this epic return to the Bridge and we are sure he won’t forget this night as well.

As Mourinho said in his pre-match press-conference, we have not seen the last of Didier Drogba at Chelsea since ‘his destiny’ lies at Stamford bridge according to the Special one who surely knows a thing or two about happy returns 😉

Eden Hazard- Man of the Match and finally starred in a knock out stage of the Champions league!!

It is what Jose Mourinho has been saying when talking about the evolution of his young players especially that of Eden Hazard and Oscar. The two players just played their first 2nd leg knock out match in the Champions league and were two best performers in the Chelsea shirt of the night. Especially the Belgian has been a real revelation under Jose Mourinho this season as he already has double figure of goals in the premier league and he is helping his team win important big matches almost by himself.

His evolution will keep on growing and growing as he works more years with the Special one and the time is nearer and nearer before when we see Eden Hazard named best player in the world, winner of the Ball’n Dor!

Our back line is now unbeatable and kudos to Jose Mourinho for making as solid for any side to beat: 

This seems like a little cliche for all Chelsea fans to say recently after the second half of the season but, its being evidently true after each passing match when the Blues back line and Petr Cech earn a clean sheet. This one makes it more impressive as they held on a treat from the likes of Drogba and Snieder to help the Blues advance to the next stages of the champions league. Gary Cahill’s second goal sent a huge relief from Mourinho as the Blues eased their efforts after wards by controlling the match and wrapping up the result.

But, the solidness of the back four is something that is entirely down to Mourinho because, who else from all the managers would have showed faith in Azpilicueta in the left back spot ahead of some one like Ashley Cole? Not any one probably. But, the Spaniard was rightfully the best Chelsea defender of the night by also combining some aggressive running forward and attacking in his game. Cahill and Terry were solid at the back and also played a key role in the second goal that was crucial for the result. And Ivanovic, unsurprisingly did fantastically well in defense even though he doesn’t combine the defensive and attacking job of his like Azpilicueta does on the other side of the field.

Samuel Eto’o is a match winner and has saved Mourinho many times this year:

Of all the three strikers we have at the moment, it was the Cameroonian who was undoubtedly the star of Mourinho’s team upfront. Eto’o yet again rose high in the highest of stages for Chelsea even though he isn’t unfamiliar with the prestigious European trophy as he is a 4 time winner as Mourinho mentioned. And his early opener against Galatasaray was as crucial as they come and it proves how much value he has in Jose Mourinho’s team.

Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed reading. And we again apologize for a late publication of What We Learned and we will get the issue fixed by the next match. Let us know your comments and KTBFFH!!