The Highs and Lows of Didier Drogba's Chelsea Career

Let us be the first to say it: Happy birthday Didier Drogba!

Chelsea's Ivorian striker turns 37 on March 11, but he remains a considerable presence in west London.

He rejoined the club last summer and, despite his ageing years, has played a big role in their Capital One Cup success and helping Chelsea maintain their lead at the top of the Premier League.

Drogba has been a great servant for the Blues, yet he has equally had some darker moments that at times have threatened to overshadow his legacy.

When he first arrived in England, he was often criticised for alleged simulation, but once Drogba cleaned up his act he showed the world what an exceptional talent he was.

Drogba will be hoping to celebrate his 37th birthday with a victory over Paris Saint-Germain, who Chelsea face in the Champions League.

And while he gets ready to blow out the candles on his birthday cake, Bleacher Report takes a closer look at his Chelsea career.

Here are some of Drogba's highs and lows at Stamford Bridge.

High: Wins the Premier League and Scores in His First Chelsea Final

You've heard about Didier Drogba's record in major finals for Chelsea, right?

Well, excluding his cameo appearance in this season's Capital One Cup final, the Ivorian has nine goals in nine finals.

It's a phenomenal record—one that outlines just how important he has been to Chelsea's success this past decade.

Things started in the 2005 League Cup final against Liverpool, when Drogba put Chelsea 2-1 ahead in extra-time. Mateja Kezman added a third after Steven Gerrard's own goal had cancelled out John Arne Riise's opener, and Chelsea went on to win the game 3-2.

Drogba's scrambled effort put Chelsea in control at the Millennium Stadium and helped springboard Jose Mourinho's Chelsea project onto the path the Blues boss had hoped it would.

Mourinho had been Chelsea manager for less than a year and was already bringing in the silverware—his star striker playing a vital role in that.

Three months later, Chelsea were lifting the Premier League title, too.

It proved an eventful debut campaign in English football for Drogba.

Low: Didier Drogba Admits to Diving

Ben Radford/Getty Images

In his first couple of seasons at Chelsea, it's safe to say Didier Drogba's antics saw him caught up in his fair share of controversy, notably in a Match of the Day interview when he seemed to admit to diving.

"Sometimes I dive, sometimes I stand," he explained, before attempting to back track.

"No, I don't dive," Drogba later added.

Whether it was the language barrier or just a slip of the tongue, the damage was done and the headlines were all about Drogba's "confession" to the TV cameras.

It was a debacle that ran and ran in the media.

High: Hits 30 Goals for the First Time in His Chelsea Career

Kirsty Wigglesworth/Associated Press

Didier Drogba's first two seasons in English football may have been trophy laden, but on a personal level, his report card read: Can do better.

Drogba had contributed a combined 32 goals in each of those two seasons (equally split with 16) and for a man of his talents, it wasn't good enough.

Then Andriy Shevchenko arrived for £30 million from AC Milan and Drogba rose to the challenge—he rediscovered his scoring touch.

Indeed, 2006/07 was the tipping point in Drogba's Chelsea career. It was the season he became a megastar, scoring 33 goals in all competitions.

It eclipsed his accomplishments from the past two seasons combined and announced his arrival as one of Europe's leading marksmen.

Low: Gets Sent off in the 2008 Champions League Final

Chelsea's first-ever Champions League final could have and should have ended in much more memorable circumstances.

Avram Grant's side had been much the better team in the 1-1 draw, Didier Drogba himself striking the upright in the second half when Edwin van der Sar was well beaten.

They couldn't find a way through, however, and the game finished all square after Cristiano Ronaldo and Frank Lampard's goals, going into extra-time.

With five minutes remaining and penalties looming, Drogba lost his cool and slapped Nemanja Vidic in the face during a fracas between both sets of players, leaving the referee with no option but to send Drogba off.

Chelsea closed the game out and it did go to penalties, but the outcome should have been much different.

Without Drogba on the pitch, John Terry stepped up for Chelsea's fifth penalty that would have won them the game had he scored.

The Blues captain slipped at the vital moment, though, and he missed his spot kick. Nicolas Anelka also saw his sudden death effort saved, gifting United with their third European Cup.

Had Drogba not lost his discipline, it would have been him taking that fifth penalty. Would he have slipped?

High: Scores the Winning Goal in the First FA Cup Final at the New Wembley

Remember our opening slide quoted Didier Drogba's record in cup finals? Here's another of those magical moments on the big stage.

In 2007, Drogba wrote his name into Wembley and FA Cup folklore by scoring the first goal in a competitive game at the new stadium.

If that wasn't enough, it proved to be the winner against Manchester United to deliver the trophy back to Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea themselves had made history seven years earlier when Dennis Wise became the last captain to lift the FA Cup at the old Wembley before its redevelopment.

Low: "It's a F-----g Disgrace"

Warning: The above YouTube clip contains offensive language

When Richard Keys of all people is telling you that "you cannot behave like that" then it's clear things have overstepped the boundary somewhat.

That's what happened to Didier Drogba in the aftermath of Chelsea being eliminated by Barcelona in the semi-final of the 2009 Champions League.

After a goalless draw at the Camp Nou, Chelsea looked set to book a rematch of the 2008 final with Manchester United.

With the clock ticking down, Michael Essien's goal separated the teams at Stamford Bridge, but Andres Iniesta equalised almost at the death with a long-range effort to make it 1-1.

It was a killer blow and sent Barca through to the final by virtue of the away goals rule.

If that wasn't enough of a bitter pill to swallow, Chelsea had a number of seemingly legitimate penalty shouts denied by referee Tom Henning Ovrebo.

Had one of them been given, it's conceivable Iniesta's goal would have been nothing more than a consolation.

But it wasn't.

All of Stamford Bridge was frustrated come the final whistle, yet Drogba took his protests too far when he hounded the referee off the pitch before shouting down a live TV camera that the Ovrebo's performance was "a f-----g disgrace."

Millions saw it and it did little to improve Chelsea's reputation.

High: Winning Chelsea the Champions League

By 2012, it had become an obsession at Chelsea to lift the Champions League.

One of the club's finest generations of players ran the risk of not lifting European football's greatest prize, and there was a sense of it being now or never when they faced Bayern Munich in the final.

Whatever the script was, Didier Drogba clearly hadn't read it, as he rescued Chelsea on more than one occasion in what was a dramatic game.

Thomas Muller had put Bayern ahead with just seven minutes remaining, but as the clock ticked down, Drogba scored in the 88th minute with a typically clinical header.

That made the game 1-1 and took it to extra-time and then penalties, where Drogba wrote his name in Chelsea folklore with the fifth and final penalty that gave Chelsea a memorable victory, 4-3 in the shoot-out.

What a final, what a player.

Garry Hayes is Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter @garryhayes