Didier’s a friend but I still want to beat him

Are you excited to see Drogba?
It’s going to be pretty intriguing for him, us, our manager and the fans who all used to adore Drogba as he certainly left his mark on Chelsea. He used to be one of Chelsea’s top players for numerous years and that’s something you don’t forget easily.
Have you two discussed the upcoming match?
We have not. We’ll see each other on the pitch.
How do you perceive this coincidental piquancy of the game?
I haven’t given it much thought. It actually happens all the time that you encounter your former teammates on the pitch. Didier was once a Chelsea star but now he’s on the other side and for those 90 minutes he’s going to become our enemy. That’s inevitable. Of course, after the game we’ll all be back to normal and shake each other’s hands. Didier’s a friend that I still want to beat.
What do you expect from the match with Galatasaray?
It’s going to be another first for me, I’ve never played them. Our role hasn’t changed, we’ll be the favourite in almost every match. I realise it’s not going to be easy. They have an extremely experienced and well set up team. There are a lot of foreigners there some of whom have already won the Champions League. They’re doing quite well in their national league, too; they’ve just beaten Besiktas and are catching up to Fenerbahce. I still hope we’ll be able to keep our cool and get a satisfying result out of it.
Turbulent atmosphere is to be expected. Do you enjoy such games?
I’ve never actually played at Galatasaray, just at Fenerbahce. That was quite the turmoil but I quite enjoyed it, nevertheless. We’ll see how this one turns out.
You have been in Turkey since Monday. Why did you leave this early?
The flight takes three and a half hours and there’s a two hour time-shift coming from England. That way it basically took us eight hours to get here from Chelsea training centre. That’s the sole reason. Otherwise we would have had to head over really in the morning on Tuesday. This way we’ve got time for some training and we’re not going to be tired from travelling around.