"Chelsea Now Lacks Class"...'I don't recognise my club anymore -Didier Drogba slams Chelsea owner Todd Boehly for 'unintelligent' approach since taking over from Roman Abramovich
Former Chelsea striker Didier Drogba claims that he ‘no longer recognises’ the club and has blasted the club’s hierarchy after their Champions League exit on Tuesday night.
Rodrygo scored twice to give the European and LaLiga champions a 4-0 victory on aggregate, as Real Madrid advance to the semi-finals for the 11th time in the last 13 seasons.
Drogba is a bona-fide Chelsea legend, having made 381 appearances for the club across two spells, scoring 164 goals and providing 86 assists.
He scored the winning penalty kick to hand the Blues the win in the 2011-12 UEFA Champions League final against Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena. The triumph marked the west London-based club's first win in the UEFA Champions League.
The Ivory Coast legend made his displeasure clear as he was working on the game as a pundit for Canal+ and his comments on the changing face of the club are likely to have been in reference to more not being done to keep key figures from the previous regime at Stamford Bridge.
Since the acquisition of the club by Todd Boehly and his fellow co-owner, Behdad Eghbali, following Roman Abramovich’s departure, Bruce Buck, Marina Granovskaia, Petr Cech and other influential personnel later left the club last summer.
Todd Boehly had spent over £500million in acquiring new players during the summer and January transfer windows, and yet no positives to show for it, with the club yet to appoint a permanent manager after Graham Potter's sack.
Drogba criticised Chelsea’s new ownership for their strategy since taking over the club from Abramovich and says the squad needs more experienced players.
"They lack charismatic leaders," Drogba told Canal Plus on Tuesday evening.
"We need players who take the game on their own, take their responsibilities. You need a player who brings madness to the stadium.’
"I no longer recognise my club," said Drogba. "It’s not the same club anymore. There is a new owner and a new vision.
"Of course, we try to compare with what was done under the Abramovich era where there were a lot of player acquisitions but the choices were very smart. Bringing in a Petr Cech, Andriy Shevchenko, Hernan Crespo, Didier Drogba, Michael Essien, Florent Malouda and so on is to win titles.
"These were players who had some experience. Here we are betting on very young players, but a dressing room with more than 30 players is difficult to manage for a coach."
When asked if he had a view on Drogba’s comments after Chelsea’s Champions League elimination, Frank Lampard said: "No, I don’t, no. They’re Didier’s comments."
Going out of the Champions League means that Chelsea, who are unlikely to qualify for Europe, have little but pride to play for this season. But caretaker boss Frank Lampard has urged his side to finish the campaign on a high.
“We can set the building blocks now of where we want to get to,” he said. “I’ve come into that. Can I affect it in that period? Hopefully. We want to get back to where we were. But everyone’s doing the same, everyone’s invested, everyone’s getting better. Maybe some clubs are more stable than we are in terms of the squad. I don’t think we can get ahead of ourselves.”
The defeat against Madrid, is Lampard's fourth successive defeat since taking temporary charge of Chelsea.
They now have seven Premier League games left, as they sit in 12th place with 39 points, that's 17 points behind fourth place.
Chelsea’s hierarchy are already hunting for Lampard’s successor and talks with Julian Nagelsmann and Luis Enrique have been held, but Drogba still insist that the current situation at Stamford Bridge will make it tough for the next manager to thrive.
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