WILLIAM GALLAS has joked that he used to “s*** himself” whenever he had to go up against former Chelsea team-mate Didier Drogba.
The Frenchman had enjoyed amazing success alongside the striker at Stamford Bridge, winning consecutive league titles before departing for Arsenal in 2006.
Gallas has spoken of his difficulty facing Drogba after leaving ChelseaCredit: Times Newspapers Ltd
The pair enjoyed great success together at Chelsea between 2004 and 2006Credit: AP:Associated Press
After arriving at the Emirates as part of the deal that saw Ashley Cole go the other way, Gallas began to understand why opposition defenders struggled so much against the Ivorian.
Drogba regularly gave Arsenal a torrid time, scoring 13 times against them for Chelsea, as well as bagging a further three in subsequent friendlies for Galatasaray and MLS All-Stars.
Two of these strikes came in the 2007 League Cup final triumph – as the in-form striker bagged 33 goals in Gallas’ first season away from the Bridge.
The defender, now 42, told The Athletic: “I was used to seeing him in training, but you know how it goes: you’re never going at 100 per cent on the training pitch.
Facing that, you just s*** yourself. He was so intimidating that it rattles you.
William Gallas on Didier Drogba
“So I never really understood why [Philippe] Senderos would just go missing in every match he played against Didier.
“But when I played against him myself in the Premier League with Arsenal, then I understood.
“He had something about him, a power I’d never sensed as a team-mate, an aura I had never seen before.
“Facing that, you just s*** yourself. He was so intimidating that it rattles you.”
When Gallas crossed the North London divide in 2010 to join Tottenham, Drogba continued to bully him.
The Ivorian was so often the tormentor of ArsenalCredit: Reuters
And no more so than in the 2012 FA Cup semi-finals, when he rolled the now ageing France international with ease before rifling a shot past another former team-mate Carlo Cudicini on the way to a 5-1 romp.
Premier League defences could breathe a sigh of relief that summer, when Drogba departed West London for Shanghai Shenhua.
By the time Drogba, now 42, returned to Chelsea in 2014, Gallas had mercifully retired.
Didier Drogba brings to an end a glittering career of 18 trophies in six different countries
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
