Bayern Munich vs. Chelsea: Didier Drogba Cements His Legacy with Huge Game

If the Champions League final was Didier Drogba's last match with Chelsea, he certainly went out in style.

And he cemented his legacy as one of the top players of his generation on top of it.

It wasn't enough that he scored the game-tying goal with a wonderful header off of Chelsea's first corner of the day in the 88th minute. And it certainly helped that Arjen Robben missed a penalty shot after Drogba committed a foul on Franck Ribery in the box.

But then, the moment of glory. In a penalty shootout and tied 3-3, Drogba was Chelsea's last shooter with a chance to win the team its first Champions League title.

And the rest is history.

So how will we remember Drogba? Frank Lampard thinks he belongs next to the top names of his generation of players. From ESPN:

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"People talk about whether this is his last game for Chelsea, but he has been an absolute hero for this club," he said. "People talk about [Thierry] Henry, [Wayne] Rooney, the great strikers, but he is right up there. People that score in finals and in the big games, he is right up there."

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This year, he scored goals in the Champions League final, the winning goal in the first leg of the semifinals against Barca and in the FA Cup final. All told, he had six goals in Champions League play this season.

He has scored in eight of the nine cup finals he has appeared in for Chelsea in his eight-year career, with nine goals total in those contests. In all, he's scored 39 goals in 75 Champions League games over the course of his career.

And he's twice led the Premier League in goals scored.

Lampard is right—he deserves to be remembered in the upper echelon of strikers from his generation.

Throw away the fact that he has be inconsistent, that he's had issues in the past, even all of the diving and flopping about. When it really matters, when the games are the most important, Drogba has shown up.

He reminded us of that one more time on Saturday, forever etching his name among the greats from this generation.


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