Jose Mourinho has revealed his disappointment at failing to sign a new striker after weighing up bids for Didier Drogba and Emmanuel Adebayor.

Chelsea striker Didier Drogba has dismissed talk of quitting Ivory Coast.

The striker withdrew from Ivory Coast's Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Rwanda this weekend but is adamant it's just a temporary measure.

He said: "I had two surgeries in less than two months so I need to recover from that and improve my fitness."

UNDP Goodwill Ambassadors actor Antonio Banderas, tennis player Maria Sharapova and footballers Didier Drogba, Ronaldo and Zinedine Zidane, are among a group of celebrities who, from today, will be using their social media networks to support the United Nations push for action against extreme poverty, hunger and disease.

Jose Mourinho attempted to change Real Madrid president Florentino Perez's mind about signing Chelsea striker Didier Drogba yesterday.

El Mundo Deportivo says Mourinho was desperate to sign a centre-forward before the summer market shut and made several approaches to Florentino during the day about reviving a bid for Drogba.

But at each turn, Mourinho was met with a 'no' from Florentino.

The Real coach has admitted concern over his striker options with only Gonzalo Higuain and Karim Benzema available to him.

 

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It's September. And the window is shut. So that now we have a rough idea of the squads of all teams. Let us preview Europe's elite.

-- My apologies for the lack of preview of the other teams, though we shall cover them from time-to-time -- 

Premier League:

In Arsene Wenger's words, this year will be the most tightly fought ever. Ever. True. Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United are the usual suspect with the new-kid in the block, Manchester City. But it is indeed difficult to presume that Everton, Liverpool, Aston Villa and ol' Harry's Spurs may fight it till the end. I seriously contend that. It is a pity that I am forced to include Liverpool in this list. But facts don't stand on emotions' shoes. That aside, Monsieur Wenger does have a point: the increase in the quality of the top 8 teams plus the others, viz., Birmingham City, Sunderland, Bolton, Blackburn will make the top teams difficult to pinch points from them. We may see quite a number of upsets. But jus' that we wont be calling them that way.

CHELSEA:

Chelsea have been the outright favourites of so many, it is hard to exclude that adjective. But do they make sense. I recall Steve McMahon backing them - rightly so - for the past two seasons. They simply were a class apart from the others. A fact Senore Mourinho will gladly turn away from. But this year.. 

They have arguably got the best Goalkeeper in the league. Petr Cech. Their defense's average IQ has been reduced, courtesy Ricardo Carvalho's exit. And Captain Terry is not  in the best of health. And we have been noting his steady decline in speed all these years. It will be interesting to see if they maintain their defensive record of the past few seasons, which has been nothing short of exemplary. Jose Bosingwa's return will be key as that will help to have a solid defense with Ivanovic moving to the centre. Paulo Ferreira is a clear liability. It is interesting that he has managed to be in one of Europe's best teams all these years. He surely must have a great agent. Ashley Cole remains their best player along with Drogba. 

A midfield of Essien-Mikel-Lampard is hard to argue anything about. But the back-up surely is. Malouda is as mercurial as the Pakistan Cricket Team. You never know. And so is Benayoun. And then, there is the new arrival of Ramires, who is a jack-of-all-trade but better and best used in the wings. Their young players don't exactly train under Steve Bould nor have shown that they are from Santos. Oh Neymar! To put it short: Chelsea's midfield is too scarce to challenge on multiple fronts. Only an eternal optimist will allow Ballack, Deco and Joe Cole to leave and replace them with Yossi and Ramires. But Ancelotti's optimism may come back to haunt him. They will do well in the Champions League. In the league, I am afraid his record in Serie A will be replicated.. That is because he has a great strike force because he's got Didier at the top of the list, take him out (Take him out and his strike force is average. Very.) and you know why Carlo's betting too much on too little.. I am not ruling out a Liverpool-esque collapse. Though they may even turn up at Wembley thrice!

Key men: Drogba and Terry

Winter purchase: Bruno Alves/Sergio Aguero. May be.

Likely Formation: 4-3-3.

Prediction:

PL - Anywhere between 2 and 5.

CL - Finalists/Semi-finalists

Drogba was a target for Jose Mourinho right up to the close of the transfer window.

Chelsea ace Didier Drogba is weighing up his future with Ivory Coast.

Drogba has already withdrawn from their Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Rwanda on Saturday and coach François Zahoui believes he may not return at all.

The 32-year-old had to have a hernia operation after playing at the World Cup this summer and is still working his way to full fitness, despite having scored four goals for Chelsea this season.

Zahoui flew to London to have talks with Drogba at the weekend and revealed: "He told me he was so tired that he wanted to withdraw from the national team for a while.

"Drogba is a world-class player who is indispensable for the Elephants but I had to respect his decision. We will let him recover his mental and physical strength and pray he comes back some day."

 

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Kraftspissen er for sliten til å spille for Elfenbenskysten.

Florent Malouda stopped short of sparking one of the deepest crises of French football history at the World Cup finals. He left that to his Chelsea team-mate Nicolas Anelka. The midfielder's tournament, nonetheless, qualified as tumultuous, what with his bust-up with the coach Raymond Domenech, hearing his commitment questioned and being dropped twice from the starting line-up.

A summer that had promised so much for Malouda, after his 15 goals and prominent role in Chelsea's Double season, was reduced to bitter frustration and Carlo Ancelotti said the player had been "angry" when he returned for pre-season training. Chelsea's Italian manager had meant to say Malouda looked "hungry", but he quickly decided that both words fitted the bill.

Malouda has begun the season like a man determined to show his worth, and his rampaging performance against a Stoke City team still without a point was embellished by a fourth goal in three games. "Malouda is one of our best players right now," Ancelotti said. "He wanted to improve on his poor performances at the World Cup and I think he is doing very well. It is a good motivation to come back and be excited to play with Chelsea."

Anelka said that Malouda is one of the "livelier lads" in the dressing-room, and that he enjoyed the role as the team's unofficial DJ. Malouda's reggae belts out every day, according to Anelka, while his dance moves lift the mood. It is principally his development over the past year or so, however, that has served to establish the Frenchman as one of the squad's leaders.

"This is his fourth season at the club so he's got used to it and he has more confidence on the pitch," Anelka said. "It's difficult to come from the French league and, straight away, play for Chelsea. It's tough in England, everything is quicker. But now he knows the English league. He is one of the best. He has everything."

Chelsea might have inflicted another humiliating scoreline on their opponents had Frank Lampard not missed his third penalty in a row for club and country. Ashley Cole, Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou spurned chances. Cole also hit the crossbar with a sumptuous volley.

But Chelsea's power and intensity was such that the result never felt in doubt, despite Stoke's sporadic threat. Jon Walters went close in the first-half, Matthew Etherington had a shot cleared by Drogba and Glenn Whelan hit the bar from 25 yards.

Tony Pulis, the Stoke manager, was hopeful of making four new signings before the closure of the transfer window while he is also trying to keep the reserve goalkeeper, Asmir Begovic, out of Chelsea's clutches. The London club have had a bid of £4.5m rejected. Pulis saluted the work ethic and positive attitude of his players; on this evidence, the results will turn for him.

Chelsea's goals stemmed from their bullying aggression. Alex and John Terry swarmed over Kenwyne Jones in the 32nd minute to win possession on half-way, Terry playing in Malouda while Drogba knocked Dean Whitehead off the ball before hitting it towards Anelka, who was brought down by Thomas Sorensen for the game's second penalty. Drogba scored but he later said Lampard, who had been substituted, will continue to be the first-choice penalty taker.

"We are playing good football," Ancelotti said, "but we can show not just good football. It was a physical match and we were ready for that. We are a physical team, we have a lot of power. We have to be ready to play different kinds of football."

Chelsea stays atop England with Arsenal and Manchester United close behind, but this weekend's story is one of teams that would be kings, with Tottenham and Manchester City showing they are still a step behind the EPL's royalty.

In it’s third week of the season, the Premier League found a middle ground. Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United still top the league on points and performance, but instead of that trio being joined by Manchester City and Tottenham, Spurs and the Citizens have decided to stay the bridge linking the title contenders to Premier League’s middle. At least, that’s what we might infer after each club lost this weekend against bottom-half teams.

Calling Wigan Athletic bottom-half is a huge upgrade for the Latics.  Last week, they were being compared with Derby County’s 11-point team of 2006-07. People were speculating as to whether this Wigan team woudl be amongst the worst to ever compete in the Premier League.  Allowing ten goals (which scoring none) in two matches tends to spur such discussion.

That gives you some perspective on how shocking it is to see a (now properly qualified) Champions League team lose at home on Saturday to Wigan. Hugo Rodallega’s 80th minute goal gave Wigan a 1-0 win, their first points of the season, and us a number of questions about Spurs: How did this happen? What happened to their attack? Is this team really that good? How did Harry Redknapp let this happen?

Tottenham has the talent to win the Premier League. Go player-by-player ,and while they may not be the best team in the league, they’re certainly within a reasonable range of the most gifted sides. They have the depth to meaningfully compete in all competitions, and as they showed at the end of last season, their top-shelf talent can bit the best.

Yet few consider them serious title contenders, and with results like Saturday’s, perhaps they shouldn’t. If you’re hosting a team that’s -10 in goal difference after two matches and you - a Champions League team - find a way to lose 1-0, then you’re probably not a title contender. You have bigger fish to fry.

And as it concerns those fish, Tottenham’s developing quite the collection. Spurs laid an egg in Bern against Young Boys, and then Stoke City nearly took something out of them last week. After their loss to Wigan, Spurs have more questionable performances than good ones, and the sample size is growing. Five matches against a range of opposition, and Tottenham’s only truly convincing performance was at home against Switzerland’s second place team. True, they inspired us against Manchester City, but they also only got one point.

While Saturday’s result at the Lane only furthered out doubts about Spurs, it alleviated some worry surrounding Wigan. Before Rodallega’s goal, the season was thought hopeless. Now, Wigan is back to where they were last season. Then, they were inexplicable, battling relegation in the same season they’d defeated Chelsea and Arsenal. It looks like Roberto Martínez has set his team up for a similar season, but give the Spaniard credit. While the inconsistency is befuddling, getting a team ready to beat Spurs after Wigan’s two preceding matches is a small managerial feat.

On Sunday, Manchester City joined Spurs as surprise losers, dropping their match at Sunderland 1-0 after a late Darren Bent penalty kick conversion. This always looked like a trap-match for City, though traps are something that shouldn’t effect a team with City’s spending. Sunderland had underperformed through two matches, City was coming off a dominant Liverpool win and Europa League qualification, so a trip north to the Stadium of Light looked like something Roberto Mancini and squad might take for granted. Perhaps that happened, or perhaps Mancini needs to not start three defensive midfielders against less talented teams. Either way, City lost a match they should have won.

Two weeks ago on the Football Weekly podcast, one of the pundits made a point that seems more salient by the moment: Roberto Mancini may not be used to managing in a league where you need 85 to 90 points to win the league. His approach, one that got him titles in Italy, tries to steal points on the road and max-out points at home. This lead him to starting very conservative teams away from Eastlands, though in his defense (if this is a defense), he started a conservative team against Liverpool. Regardless, the effect is a lineup that features all of Nigel de Jong, Gareth Barry, Yaya Toure, and James Milner. That’s either an obsession with prevention or a very high estimation of Carlos Tevez’s capabilities. It's starting to look like the former, which means City will probably battle at the edges of Champions League again.

Mancini has to change. With this approach, it’s difficult to see him keeping his job beyond this season.

Across the big three, it was a straight-forward week:

Chelsea remains the only perfect team in the Premier League after their 2-0 win over Stoke City. Afterward, it was announced Frank Lampard’s suffering from a hernia and will be miss time, starting with England’s first Euro 2012 qualifiers (which start Friday). Lamps missed an early penalty kick, with Florent Malouda and Didier Drogba (penalty kick) goals sending Stoke to their third loss in as many matches.

Arsenal went to Ewood Park, where they lost last season to Blackburn, but a second half goal from Andrei Arshavin pushed the Gunners to a 2-1 victory. Arsene Wenger’s passing game has traditionally struggled against Sam Allardyce’s tactics, but with Saturday’s win, Arsenal stays second in the league, holding seven points and a plus-seven difference.

Manchester United rebounded from last week’s disappointment at Craven Cottage by dominating West Ham at Old Trafford. Wayne Rooney ended a half-year-long goalless drought with a first half penalty kick conversion. Nani added the second after half, while Dimitar Berbatov finished the 3-0 win with his third goal of the season. They send West Ham to the bottom of the table: three losses in three matches, being outscored one-to-nine.

The weekend’s five other results, listed as close to chronologically as possible:

• Three matches, three draws for Fulham with their 2-2 tie at Blackpool, though coming off last weekend’s point from Manchester United, the Cottagers have to be disappointed they didn’t get more from one of the league’s weakest teams. A late Dickson Etuhu goal saved their weekend, with Blackpool now one of six clubs sitting on four points.
• Wolves and Newcastle are the last two winners of the Championship. On Saturday, the two clubs persisted with surprisingly good starts after a 1-1 draw at the Molineux. Magpie Andy Carroll’s fourth goal of the season equalized Sylvain Ebanks-Blake’s first half tally, putting the Toon on four points through as many matches. Wolves have five points and sit one place about Newcastle in the table: seventh.
• Jussi Jaaskelainen saw red after an apparent slap to Roger Johnson’s face. At that time, Johnson had already put Birmingham up one, with Craig Gardner’s third goal of the year putting City up 2-0 in the second half. Bolton fought back with goals from Kevin Davies (from the spot) and Robbie Blake, giving Bolton a 2-2 draw and putting both clubs on five points.
• A second half goal from Fernando Torres, his first of the season, gave Liverpool their first victory of the campaign, the team still playing without the suspended Joe Cole. This was also the Reds’ first match post-Javier Mascherano, the midfielder sold to Barcelona late in the week.
• Aston Villa got an early tally from the goal-scoring machine that is Luke Young. Rebounding from last week’s embarrassment at Newcastle (and a loss mid-week to Rapid Wien), Kevin MacDonald’s team held on for their second win of the year. For all their troubles, Villa sit in fourth after three matches, one point behind Arsenal and Manchester United. Everton, however, persists in another slow start, sitting in 18th place.

Chelsea striker Didier Drogba is rested from Ivory Coast's squad for their first qualifying match for the Nations Cup in 2012.

Didier Drogba will sit out a second successive international for the Ivory Coast, who have left him out of the squad for next Saturday's African Nations Cup qualifier against Rwanda.

Après concertation avec l'intéressé, François Zahoui a décidé de se passer de Didier Drogba, pour son premier match à...

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Didier Drogba will sit out a second successive international for the Ivory Coast, who have left him out of the squad for next Saturday's African Nations Cup qualifier against Rwanda.

Newspaper reports

The Observer, Conrad Leach: "When Chelsea have got over the shock and shame of not winning 6-0 – as they had done in their first two games of this season – they will realise the value of this rather more subdued scoreline. As they have already proved this campaign, creating chances is not a problem for Carlo Ancelotti's side, but sometimes the putts don't drop. If they had, then they might even have equalled the 7-0 thrashing they doled out to Stoke City on this ground in April. After all, when Ashley Cole could have scored twice, you know there are goals to be had."

Sunday Telegraph, Jonathan Liew: "Just the two for Chelsea this week, then, but to a home contingent reared on gourmet cuisine, this win was nothing more than a good square meal. It is fair to say that three games in, the champions are yet to be truly tested. An industrious but guileless Stoke City were ill-equipped for the job, and Chelsea were even able to afford a missed penalty on their way to victory."

Independent on Sunday, Mark Fleming: "Florent Malouda describes the carefree fluency Chelsea have displayed in their opening Premier League games as feeling "like I was back in my garden". And well he might, for things are certainly looking rosy for Malouda and the rest of the defending champions. Stoke City provided stiffer opposition than either West Bromwich Albion or Wigan had managed on the previous two weekends but the champions were unruffled."

Official Chelsea FC Website: "It is now 14 goals without reply from three games as the strong start continues. The Blues were afforded the luxury of a missed Frank Lampard penalty before Florent Malouda opened the scoring for the third game running, again with a right-foot finish. Chelsea then hit the bar, a feat also performed by Stoke with the score still 1-0. Didier Drogba sealed the win from the penalty spot with quarter-of-an-hour to go, followed soon after by a debut for Ramires."

The goals

Malouda 1-0
Drogba (pen) 2-0

Pre-match stuff

We find ourselves perched atop of the fledgling Premiership table with a goal difference that Stoke (and many others) would be immensely pleased with come next May. Another six goal haul today would see an increasing number of Chelsea fans depart from reality – not that we need too much opportunity for that – and possibly encourage the News of the Screws’ fake sheikh to turn his attentions from Pakistani bowlers to the defence of whichever team happened to be facing Ancelotti’s globetrotters that weekend.

Tony Pulis and the visitors would presumably have arrived with one eye on damage limitation, their 7-0 humbling down at the Bridge at the tail end of last season. Asmir Begovic, Stoke’s wantaway keeper who picked the ball out of his net no less than five times during last season’s rout, is still on strike and hoping for a move to SW6; his club’s new eight figure valuation is looking prohibitive for a second choice keeper, to say the least.

What else? Oh yes; European footy is back. Thursday’s Champions League draw was the usual mixture of UEFA self-aggrandising pomp and ceremony – oh for Chopper and another grizzly ex-pro pulling balls from a bag in the FA’s basement – and left us with a reasonable group to negotiate over the coming months. Midweek trips to Slovakia and Russia are never ideal, but Drogba’s return to Marseilles to face another Didier with Chelsea connections should hopefully provide the highlight of a group stage which doesn’t exactly set the pulse racing (not much change there, then).

The game

The late, great Eric Morecambe once observed that life is generally not Hollywood, but mostly Cricklewood. Given our recent net-bursting form, this seems an appropriate observation after what was a comfortable, routine victory against a team resolutely determined to give our free-scoring heroes less room to play in than a cat in a wheelie bin.

The performance was sound, workmanlike and as third gear as the outings against West Brom and Wigan, just minus the clinical finishing. Had chances been taken, another goal-difference boosting rout could have been on the cards; a clearly off-colour Frank’s penalty (his reluctance to put his boot through it as he usually does gave a clear indication that something was wrong), the two opportunities that fell to Ashley and Kalou’s late one-on-one howler (too much time to think, you see) and so on.

Not much more to say really – we were dominant in possession, fairly solid in defence and created chances against a side rather lacking in ambition. There will be plenty more games of this nature to come over the next eight months or so; some will end with a more impressive scoreline, others less so.

The good

• Three wins, fourteen goals and none conceded – top of the heap. The perfect start to the season.
• Injuries to JT and Frank. Not good that they’re crocked, obviously, but a minor hamstring tweak and a hernia op instead of flogging the lifeless equine beast that is England is probably a blessing in disguise. The best part of two weeks to rest, recuperate and generally avoid being booed by some shaven-headed fucktards fresh from an EDL march / asked stupid questions by agenda-driven journos is just what the doctor ordered from a blue point of view.
• Mikel – more of him later, but when the bloke I sit next to who has given JOM pelters for his entire Chelsea career stops to observe that he was having a great, almost Brazilian game, you know he must have been doing something right.
• Ashley Cole – like watching Cafu in his pomp.
• Ramires – nice to see the new boy get a run out.
• I shall look forward immensely to seeing the Spurs fan in the office I work from occasionally this week; his confident dismissal of my ‘beware those supposedly easy league fixtures after good results in Europe’ warning proved somewhat foolish, as I told him it would. It did bring back some unpleasant memories about Watford away after a glorious night in the San Siro, though.

The bad

• We’re going to face an awful lot of teams adopting the ‘none shall pass’ masses behind the ball approach this season. Much of it will not be pretty.
• The two-thirds full away section. We’ve seen it before to an extent, and it is still holiday season, but the concern is that outside of the bigger teams and traditional rivals, fans of the mid to lower table sides might well be voting with their wallets rather than coming to the Bridge to see their boys on the wrong end of a hiding.

Player ratings

I shall rate the players based on a mark out of ten, taking into account factors such as goals, assists, tackles won, passing statistics, ridiculous and usually misplaced personal biases and/or favouritism and the quality of the individual’s haircut. Marks will be deducted for stray passes, silly coloured boots and being born under a star sign that I don’t particularly care for blah blah blah blah blah.

You didn’t think I was being serious, did you? Read the papers if you want all that jazz.

Man of the Match

Hmm, tricky one. Everyone was reassuringly competent, made few errors and in general, didn’t really set the world alight (not that they had to, if we’re honest). Ashley’s end to end energy was impressive as previously noted, JT’s solidity, bursting from deep run and regista style pass for Malouda’s first was as classy as it comes and also worthy of mention. Alex impressed me with some telling interceptions and tackles on the rare moments that Stoke ventured over the halfway line, but I’ll go with Mikel for today’s honours. The extra second he seems to find in possession coupled with an increasingly impressive range of passing should make the hacks sit up and take notice, if they weren’t too busy churning themselves into a creamy five-knuckle frenzy about the old ginger lad up in Manchester. And he cannae tackle as well as the Obi One, either.

In summary

The forthcoming break is both blessing and curse in equal measure. Despite a confident and impressive start to the season, my feeling is that we could do with another game or two to up the sharpness levels a little more and really kick into gear before international duty sends most of the squad scuttling around the planet. West Ham and their, ahem, ‘manager’ next up but for now, all in Carlo’s garden is rosy.

Related links

• Reaction: Maintaining top

Didier Drogba will sit out a second successive international for the Ivory Coast, who have left him out of the squad for next Saturday's African Nations Cup qualifier against Rwanda.

Carlo Ancelotti saw his Stamford Bridge side make it three from three with a workmanlike win over a determined Potters side. Frank Lampard missed a penalty early on but goals from Florent Malouda and a spot kick from Didier Drogba saw the Blues to victory. Bet on Manchester United to win the Champions League Join Betfair [...]

Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard is out of England's Euro2012 qualifiers.

The England midfielder will undergo a hernia operation on Tuesday or Wednesday and is expected to be out for two weeks.

Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti informed England boss Fabio Capello of the injury immediately after the match at Stamford Bridge, in which Lampard was in discomfort during the second half.

Ancelotti said: "He has a problem where he had surgery 10 years ago.

"In the game he did not feel well and he will have surgery this week on either Tuesday or Wednesday. He will not be able to play for England."

It is a similar operation to one recently undergone by Chelsea striker Didier Drogba.

"In one week Drogba was able to train," said Ancelotti. "It is a very easy surgery. He (Lampard) started to feel pain and he needs to do this. We have already spoken with the national team to explain the situation."

 

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Chelsea cruised to their third consecutive win of the new season with a 2-0 defeat of Stoke City at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea: 2 (Florent Malouda 32’, Didier Drogba (p) 77’)
Stoke City: 0

Venue: Stamford Bridge – Fulham, West London
Crowd: 40,931
Referee: Martin Atkinson
Yellow cards: CH - nil
SC - Dean Whitehead 37’, Matthew Etherington 45’

Despite Frank Lampard’s 11th minute miss from the penalty spot, the Blues were in complete cruise control against the Potters and maintained their unbeaten run to stay top of the Premier League.

Florent Malouda netted his fourth goal of the season in the 32nd minute, receiving a neat pass from John Terry before smashing it home past Thomas Sorensen to open the scoring.

Chelsea were unable to lash in six like they had done in their past two outings but did manage a second in the 77th minute when Nicolas Anelka was brought down in the area by Sorensen with Didier Drogba slotting the ensuing spotkick.

Chelsea’s record is now three wins from three, scoring 14 goals and conceding nil, whilst Stoke have slumped to three losses and sit second bottom on the table.

Starting Line-Ups

CH
Petr Cech (gk), John Terry, Alex, Ashley Cole, Paulo Ferreira, John Obi Mikel, Frank Lampard (Kalou 72’), Michael Essien (Ramires 85’), Florent Malouda, Didier Drogba, Nicolas Anelka (Sturridge 81’)

Subs - Ross Turnbull (gk), Yossi Benayoun, Salomon Kalou (72’), Yuri Zhirkov, Daniel Sturridge (81’), Ramires (85’), Patrick van Aanholt

SC
Thomas Sorensen (gk), Ryan Shawcross, Abdoulaye Faye, Robert Huth, Danny Collins, Andy Wilkinson, Rory Delap, Matthew Etherington, Dean Whitehead, Jonathan Walters, Kenwyne Jones

Subs - Asmir Begovic (gk), Michael Tonge, Ricardo Fuller, Glenn Whelan, Danny Higginbotham, Danny Pugh, Tuncay Sanli

 

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Premier League leader Chelsea maintained its 100 percent start to the season with a 2-0 home win over Stoke thanks to goals by Florent Malouda and Didier Drogba, while Arsenal remained on its shoulder on Saturday with a hard-fought 2-1 victory at Blackburn.

El equipo de los "Blues" derrotó 2-0 al Stoke con goles de Florent Malouda y Didier Drogba para mantener el liderato de la Premier League

Chelsea continue to set the pace in the Premiership after a 2-0 home win over Stoke City.

The Blues may have failed to score six for a third successive game but they proved too classy for the Potters.

Frank Lampard saw his weak penalty easily saved by Thomas Sorensen before Florent Malouda opened the scoring at Stamford Bridge.

Glenn Whelan for Stoke and Ashley Cole for the home side both hit the woodwork.

From Chelsea’s second spot kick of the afternoon Didier Drogba wrapped up a comfortable three points for the defending champions.

Wigan stunned Tottenham who were clearly still revelling in qualifying for the Group Stages of the Champions League.

The Latics suffered a 9-1 hammering last season but this time a late strike from Hugo Rodallega proved enough in a 1-0 win over a lacklustre Spurs.

Jermaine Defoe went close for the home side but Wigan centre back Steve Gohouri hit the cross bar early on.

Younes Kaboul should have equalised but headed wide of an open goal as Tottenham left the pitch to chorus of boos.

Arsenal emerged with the three points at a rain-soaked Ewood Park, winning 2-1.

Andrey Arshavin scored the winner early in the second half after Theo Walcott’s first half opener had been cancelled out by Mame Diouf’s quick reply.

Blackpool saw their first home game back in the top flight end in a thrilling 2-2 draw with Fulham at Bloomfield Road.

The visitor’s took the lead in the first half through Bobby Zamora in front of watching England coach Fabio Capello.

Then all the action happened in the closing stages of the second half.

A John Pantsil own goal gifted the Seasiders a leveller and five minutes later the home side took the lead through on-loan striker Luke Varney.

But Fulham rallied three minutes from time and Dickson Etuhu spared the Cottagers blushes with an equaliser.

Newcastle went behind at Wolves but rallied in the second half to force a 1-1 draw.

The home side punished the Magpies for missing several first-half chances with Sylvan Ebanks-Blake firing home shortly before the interval.

But Andy Carroll followed up his recent hat-trick to secure a point at Molineux with a header from Joey Barton’s free kick.

When Chelsea have got over the shock and shame of not winning 6-0 – as they had done in their first two games of this season – they will realise the value of this rather more subdued scoreline. As they have already proved this campaign, creating chances is not a problem for Carlo Ancelotti's side, but sometimes the putts don't drop. If they had, then they might even have equalled the 7-0 thrashing they doled out to Stoke City on this ground in April. After all, when Ashley Cole could have scored twice, you know there are goals to be had.

Instead it was two of the regulars on the scoresheet, Florent Malouda and Didier Drogba, who ensured Chelsea go into the international break top of the nascent Premier League table.

Having hammered West Brom and Wigan on the first two weekends, Ancelotti could hardly have asked the fixture computer for a more favourable third game than Stoke, at home, if he had programmed it himself. As it was, until Drogba, from the penalty spot, scored the Blues' second goal, 14 minutes from time, the league champions risked embarrassment.

Ancelotti said: "Today was not our best but the result was important. There was a lot of difficulty as we didn't have a high tempo. I'm happy because we won, didn't concede a goal, and maintained [their place on the] top of the table. In the first half it was better and we could have scored more than one goal. The second half was more difficult."

That point was made clear by Glenn Whelan after 66 minutes. The Stoke substitute scored a winning goal at Spurs last season, and this time he almost made a difference again. The Irish midfielder tried his luck from 35 yards out but saw his effort rebound off Petr Cech's bar. And with that went Stoke's hopes of their first point of the season, although Tony Pulis, their manager, felt their performances so far have merited some reward.

"We had our moments but overall Chelsea were the better team," Pulis said. "They have some great players and had numerous opportunities but I give credit to our lads for the work they put in."

They might have prevented a third consecutive defeat if either of their chances inside the first 10 minutes had gone in, either when Dean Whitehead tested Cech from 18 yards or when Jonathan Walters saw his lob clear Cech but also the crossbar.

By that time, Cole had already hooked his first chance wide, and then the hosts won a penalty when Malouda was brought down by Ryan Shawcross. However, Thomas Sorensen guessed correctly and dived low to his left to save Frank Lampard's spot-kick, the third consecutive penalty the England midfielder has missed for club and country.

It was a tame effort and could be explained by the fact he now needs groin surgery, which Ancelotti revealed afterwards will happen in midweek. It will rule him out of both of England's Euro 2012 qualifiers in the next 10 days.

But with Chelsea in their current form, they have plenty of goal-scoring options and Malouda is one of them, although the source was unusual, with John Terry supplying the pass on the counterattack after 32 minutes. The French winger's fourth goal of the season was smartly taken after the Chelsea captain picked him out in the penalty area.

If Cole's volley a minute later had gone in instead of hitting the crossbar, Stoke might have wilted but they were able to cling on until Chelsea were awarded their second penalty of the day. Drogba picked out Nicolas Anelka with a long pass but Sorensen, rushing to the edge of his area, fouled the Frenchman. With Lampard off the pitch, Drobga reminded his team-mate what to do from 12 yards.

Florent Malouda´s first half goal and a second half penalty from Didier Drogba ensured Chelsea extended their perfect start to the Premier League campaign with a 2-0 win over Stoke on Saturday.

It did not rain goals at Stamford Bridge for a change but Florent Malouda and Didier Drogba still came up with two vital strikes to keep Chelsea's 100% record intact at the top of the Premier League.

CHECK OUT PEPSI MAXS NEW 2010 FOOTBALL TV ADVERT FEATURING GLOBAL FOOTBALL ICONS AND A SPECIAL GUEST APPEARANCE FROM AKON World class players Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry, Ricardo Kaká, Frank Lampard, Andrei Arshavin and Didier Drogba ...

It doesn't rain goals at Stamford Bridge for a change but Florent Malouda and Didier Drogba still come up with vital strikes.

Premier League leader Chelsea maintained its 100 percent start to the season with a 2-0 home win over Stoke thanks to goals by Florent Malouda and Didier Drogba, while Arsenal remained on its shoulder on Saturday with a hard-fought 2-1 victory at Blackburn.

Chelsea 2 Stoke 0
It did not rain goals at Stamford Bridge for a change but Florent Malouda and Didier Drogba still came up with two vital strikes to keep Chelsea’s 100% record intact at the top of the Premier League.

Didier Drogba og Florent Malouda fortsetter sine herjinger.

LONDON (Reuters) - Chelsea maintained their perfect start to the defence of their Premier League title as Florent Malouda and Didier Drogba struck in a 2-0 home win against Stoke City on Saturday.

It did not rain goals at Stamford Bridge for a change but Florent Malouda and Didier Drogba still came up with two vital strikes to keep Chelsea's 100% record intact at the top of the Premier League.

LONDON - Chelsea striker Didier Drogba has said that their next opponents Stoke City have a great reason to be frightened of facing the reigning Premier League champions today. Carlo Ancelotti’s men have started the new season in fantastic fashion knocking in 12 goals .... Original article  : Chelsea creates ’sensation of fear’ in opponents’ penalty area: Drogba.

Chelsea striker Didier Drogba has told Manchester City that money does not guarantee success.

Chelsea ace Didier Drogba insists it's too early to judge Manchester City as a title threat this season.

Many pundits say City pose a major threat to Chelsea's title aspirations.

But Drogba says: "Money cannot guarantee success in football.

"City paid a lot for players last season but did not make the Champions League.

"They have a better squad now and will be dangerous - but it is still too early to judge their chances."

 

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Chelsea ace Didier Drogba admits thinking about defending his Golden Boot this season.

The Ivory Coast striker topped the Premier League goal charts with 29 last term.

Drogba said: "We have demolished teams so far - but the beauty of the Premier League is that nothing is ever easy. Last season we beat Stoke 7-0 but I am convinced they will see this as a chance to gain revenge.

"They will be determined to avoid conceding goals, so it will not be so easy even though we are in good form. Actually, we have been surprised by our two 6-0 scorelines so far this season. After losing the Community Shield to Manchester United people wondered if we were beginning the new season in a crisis.

"But our challenge is to win all our matches and to build up many points in this first weeks. Points have the same value at any stage of the season but it's better if we can put distance between us and our main rivals.

"As for myself, the chance to win the Golden Boot is an enormous challenge. But there are so many matches I'm not really thinking about it yet. If Chelsea could become European champions with me as top scorer in Europe, that would be sensational.

"The Champions League is a personal objective and I dream of playing in this season's final at Wembley. After our incredible final when we lost to Manchester United in 2008, and losing two semi-finals to Liverpool we deserve to lift the trophy."

 

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Chelsea ace Didier Drogba says they have the Premier League running scared.

Carlo Ancelotti's men kicked off their defence of the Premier League title with back-to-back 6-0 wins over West Brom and Wigan.

They clinched the crown last term by thrashing Stoke 7-0 and Wigan 8-0 in their final two home games of the season - having already stuck seven goals past both Sunderland and Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge earlier in the season.

And hitman Drogba, 32, insisted: "We create such a sensation of fear in our opponents' penalty area - and that really helps us score.

"We have developed a perfect system. We practise so many different situations thousands of times in training so it becomes automatic in games.

"It may look easy - but the secret is work, work and more work each day.

"And, while Ancelotti is an Italian coach, we do not play a defensive Italian style.

"That is how we were successful last season so there is no reason to change."

 

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Didier Drogba est suspendu pour les deux premières rencontres de Ligue des Champions.

Les retrouvailles en Ligue des champions entre Didier Drogba et son club de coeur, Marseille, se feront au stade...

French club Olympique Marseille are eagerly anticipating the return of former player Didier Drogba.

The Ivory Coast star scored 32 goals in 55 appearances for Marseille in all competitions in 2003/04 and will be welcomed back with open arms when Chelsea come to town in the final Champions League group stage game in December.

“It will be great to see Didier back here, but it won’t be a piece of cake for them,” said Marseille president Jean-Claude Dassier.

 

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I am Didier Drogba and this is my expert analysis of the Champions League group stage draw. I will tell you about the groups and rate each on the highly scientific F***ing Disgrace Scale. Let's begin.

Group A

Inter Milan
Werder Bremen
Tottenham 
FC Twente

Didier Says: Inter and the referee conspired to knock Chelsea out of the Champions League last season so now that my friend Jose Mourinho is not there anymore, I hope they lose every match and squander the ability to taste ice cream! The rest of the group looks like it got lost on the way to the Europa League. Inter and Spurs will advance and I will be forced to hope that the ice cream thing comes true.   

Verdict: Mild f***ing disgrace! 

Group B

Lyon 
Benfica
Schalke 
Hapoel Tel Aviv

Didier Says: I don't care about any of these teams and I am not going to pretend to! Lyon and Schalke will advance but I will not give that prediction the Didier Drogba Seal of Quality because my heart is not in it and you can't make me do anything I don't want to do! 

Verdict: Unconfirmed f***ing disgrace!

Group C

Manchester United
Valencia
Rangers 
Bursapor

Didier Says: Someone is going to get stabbed during at least one of these matches! That aside, it's still another easy group for Manchester United. If they had any money I would say they are paying off UEFA, but they can only afford footballers who used to be homeless, so that can't be. Man United and Valencia will advance and my cat, Kitier Katba, will purr angrily in their general direction.

Verdict: Obvious f***ing disgrace!

Group D

Barcelona 
Panathinaikos
Copenhagen 
Rubin Kazan

Didier Says: Again Barcelona gets an insanely easy group! UEFA is definitely still playing favorites with them! This is wrong! Maybe Rubin Kazan will beat them again just to make things appear fair, but it is not fair at all! Platini and Messi wear spandex and play laser tag together! Pep Guardiola watches them and gives them juice when they're done!

Verdict: TOTALLY MASSIVE F***ING DISGRACE!

Group E 

Bayern Munich
Roma 
Basel
CFR Cluj

Didier Says: UEFA and Barcelona sleep head to toe in the same tent and then say nothing happened between them! Things can still happen when you are head to toe! Trust me -- I know this! Bayern and Roma will advance here, but how can you live knowing there is such corruption out there?! You can't! So put down the pudding!

Verdict: Excluding the head to toe business, this is still more or less a f***ing disgrace! 

Group F

Chelsea 
Marseille 
Spartak Moscow
MSK Zilina

Didier Says: Of course! Of course they put me against my former club, Marseille! They always have to make it tough for Drogba. They can never let Drogba just relax and have an enjoyable Champions League. Maybe eat a piece of cake during the matches. No! They make me play my old team and score goals against my friends! If Chelsea and Marseille don't advance, I will curse on your televisions!

Verdict: A Kitier Katba sized f***ing disgrace! And Kitier is an extremely fat cat, which in itself is not acceptable! Feline diabetes is serious business!

Group G

AC Milan 
Real Madrid 
Ajax
Auxerre

Dider Says: This group is madness! My friend Jose Mourinho will fill a swimming pool with their tears and then swim the backstroke in it. There are lots of talented players here, but Milan and Madrid will advance. 

Verdict: An entertaining f***ing disgrace!

Group H

Arsenal 
Shakhtar Donetsk
Braga 
Partizan

Didier Says: So when Arsenal sold Eduardo to Shakhtar, they actually did a disservice to themselves. Alanis Morissette wrote a song about that and it was called "Hand In My Pocket." Arsenal and Shakhtar will advance.

Verdict: It's not that bad. ... No -- it's a f***ing disgrace! If I tricked you, you need to pay closer attention to the heavily repeated themes of the things you read! 

Manchester United and Rangers have been drawn together in Group C of the Champions League.

Spanish side Valencia and Turkey's Bursaspor make up the group.

United and Rangers were drawn together at the same stage in 2003-04 with United winning 3-0 at home and 1-0 at Ibrox.

Arsenal have been given a favourable draw in Group H.

Arsene Wenger's outfit will face Ukrainian side Shakter Donetsk, Portuguese side Braga and Serbian champions FK Partizan Belgrade.

Tottenham return to Europe’s premier competition sees them face holders Inter Milan, together with Werder Bremen and FC Twente in Group A.

Chelsea were matched with Didier Drogba's former club Marseille in Group F of the Champions League.

The Blues will also face Russia's Spartak Moscow and Slovakia's MSK Zilina.

Is anyone else out there old enough to remember when Manchester United versus Rangers in the European Cup would have been a game to cherish? A Battle of Britain to be savoured and looked forward to?

Sadly, I can.

When Graeme Souness went north and spent David Murray’s millions on Terry Butcher, Chris Woods and Paul Gascoigne in the 1990s, Rangers were the nine-in-a-row Scottish champions with bite. When England’s finest were banned from Europe after the Heysel Stadium tragedy in 1985, Rangers were all we Brits had to keep us warm on mid-winter evenings.

Now, sadly, they’re scheduled to arrive at Old Trafford with the same SPL title attached... but none of the kudos.

I’ll be on Sky News at 7.45am discussing all this but here’s a word to the wise from Richard Gough, one of those old Rangers stars when they used to progress to the latter stages in Europe, “It’s good for Rangers. We see Manchester United on the television every week.”

Great.

The Champions League draw yesterday saw Rangers and Manchester United sharing Group C with Valencia and Bursaspor. Even the Blue Noses in Glasgow must accept Rangers – Sir Alex Ferguson’s old club - haven’t got a hope of qualifying – they’ll be lucky to scrape into the Europa League in third place ahead of the Turks.

Instead, everyone’s worried about all those crazed Scots coming down to Manchester.

At the 2008 UEFA Cup Final, Rangers fans left their mark on Old Trafford and the surrounds leaving Rangers Supporters Trust chairman Stephen Smith saying hopefully, "There were around 200,000 Rangers fans in Manchester for the final and only a tiny, tiny amount, a tiny fraction, were involved in trouble. The bother was over-hyped."

We'll take his word for it.

Instead of the great England v Scotland clash, we are forced to focus on the real biggie for English fans – Jose Mourinho may have left Inter Milan but with former Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez in charge, the reigning champions should provide two mouth-watering clashes with Harry Redknapp’s Tottenham.

Spurs, thanks to a Jermain Defoe arm and a Peter Crouch hat-trick, saw off Young Boys to make their debut in the group stages. With the final scheduled for the new Wembley next May, Spurs fans will be praying for a bit of luck against mighty Inter... not to mention their other Group A rivals, Germany’s Werder Bremen and Dutch hopefuls FC Twente.

Champions Chelsea face Marseille, Spartak Moscow, and Zilina in Group F while in Group H, Arsenal take on Shakhtar Donetsk – the Ukrainian side who now boast their old Brazilian-Croatian strike Eduardo – plus Portugal’s Braga and Partizan Belgrade, once the Yugoslav powerhouse.

With Chelsea super-striker Didier Drogba set to visit his old club on the French south coast, Marseille chairman Jean-Claude Dassier oozed, “It will be great to see Didier back at the Velodrome but it won't be a piece of cake.” He then immediately contradicted himself and added cautiously, “Chelsea are the favourites but I think we can beat the other two."

The objective observers of course will point to Group G as the biggie – and they’d be right. Mourinho’s Real Madrid, complete with £60m of new talent, face Italian giants AC Milan, Dutch masters Ajax and Auxerre of France. Pick your two from those four with care.

Former Real Madrid great Emilio Butragueno, now a director at the San Siro, warned, "Milan don't worry me because you are always going to get a difficult or very difficult side. What I didn't like was getting Auxerre as the fourth team. It was the toughest part of this draw for us."

When you've got Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, and a galactico of stars, you can afford to say things like that.

While Spurs face a hazardous, but not insurmountable group, Manchester United, Chelsea, and Arsenal will feel confident about their hopes of making it into the knockout phase

I can see all four English clubs getting through.

Arsenal have the easiest group despite the presence of Shakhtar, who upset them a decade ago.

The Ukrainians won the last UEFA Cup but went out of the inaurugal Europa League last year to Fulham.

Manchester United and Chelsea will cruise through despite a couple of hairy trips and even Spurs have a chance, despite this from Luis Figo, spokesman for Internazionale, who said, “We want a repeat of our success last year. It's a tough group but if we want to go to Wembley we have to beat everybody. German teams are always well-prepared and English ones know how to be dangerous."

That draw in full:

Group A

Inter Milan, Werder Bremen, Tottenham, FC Twente

Group B

Lyon, Benfica, Schalke, Hapoel Tel-Aviv

Group C

Manchester United, Valencia, Rangers, Bursaspor

Group D

Barcelona, Panathinaikos, FC Copenhagen, Rubin Kazan

Group E

Bayern Munich, AS Roma, Basel, CFR Cluj

Group F

Chelsea, Marseille, Spartak Moscow, Zilina

Group G

AC Milan, Real Madrid, Ajax, Auxerre

Group H

Arsenal, Shakhtar Donetsk, Braga, Partizan Belgrade

Pepe Reina

Ugh, this season is awful. Between my mistake against Arsenal and getting crushed by Man City, this really is not living up to winning the World Cup at all. ... It's like having to unclog, like, 15 toilets after having the best party of all time. ... Plus I have to do it while looking like a giant plum. ... Seriously, whose idea was the all purple goalkeeper's kit? ... Did I accidentally poop in the Adidas designer's shoes? ... This is so awful. ... Then on top of everything we've got Babel rapping all the time and Mascherano keeps passing out because he's on strike from breathing. ... I really can't wait until Euros...

Andres Iniesta

I THINK I'M DROWNING

Lee Bullock 

OK, what's going on here? ... I'm on the pitch with Simon Ramsden. That's normal. Just like any Bradford City match. ... But we're both on bikes. And wearing helmets. And it feels like I might have a tail. ... Oh God, I'm already dreaming! ... I fell asleep already and I didn't even know it. ... I think I'm in the sequel to Inception. ... Maybe if I kill myself I'll wake up. ... At the very least, I won't have to keep posing for pictures in a bike helmet...

Didier Drogba

The disgraces are everywhere! I will list them until I fall asleep. ... First, Chelsea scored six goals again but I didn't get any of them this time. Total f***ing disgrace. ... Then, Kalou pretended to shine my boot after I gifted him two easy goals that even my dumb uncle could score, but he actually scuffed it and didn't even apologize. That's a boot-ruining f***ing disgrace. ... Then, he offered to buy me dinner after the match and he took me to McDonald's and ordered for me. HE ORDERED FOR ME.  That is a monumental f***ing disgrace. ... Then, Chelsea drew Marseille in the Champions League so now I have to play my old team. That's a sentimental f***ing disgrace. ... Then, Man United and Barca both got easy groups yet again. That's a conspiratorial f***ing disgrace. ... Then, there were those times that those two bald referees who probably make panda bear snuff films in their spare time cheated us out of the Champions League. That...that was a...

Photos: Getty Images

Manchester United and Rangers have been drawn together in Group C of the Champions League.

Spanish side Valencia and Turkey's Bursaspor make up the group.

United and Rangers were drawn together at the same stage in 2003-04 with United winning 3-0 at home and 1-0 at Ibrox.

Arsenal have been given a favourable draw in Group H.

Arsene Wenger's outfit will face Ukrainian side Shakter Donetsk, Portuguese side Braga and Serbian champions FK Partizan Belgrade.

Tottenham return to Europe’s premier competition sees them face holders Inter Milan, together with Werder Bremen and FC Twente in Group A.

Chelsea were matched with Didier Drogba's former club Marseille in Group F of the Champions League.

The Blues will also face Russia's Spartak Moscow and Slovakia's MSK Zilina.

As most people know by now, Portuguese minnows Sporting Clube de Braga made history in Spain on Tuesday night, as they beat La Liga giants Sevilla 4-3 and 5-3 on aggregate to progress to the UEFA Champions League proper for the first ever time in the club's 90 year existence.

A sensational hat trick from second-half substitute Rodrigo Lima followed Matheus' opener to give Braga an unbelievable victory.

After beating experienced European campaigners Celtic in the third qualifying round, Braga's win over Sevilla has pushed the Portuguese Liga top three challengers into the lucrative, illustrious Champions League group stages for the first time, and has showed to the rest of Europe that SC Braga mean business.

For any team that draws Braga in their group, no matter how big they are, they'll know a tough task awaits them, especially at Braga's famous Quarry stadium, a.k.a Estádio AXA.

A defensively disciplined side, the likes of Luis Fabiano, Frederic Kanoute and Jesus Navas were simply unable to find, let alone expose, any costly gaps in Braga's defence, as proven by Braga's 1-0 home win, and first half showing at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán stadium.

And as proven by the scorelines and goals Braga scored against both Celtic and Sevilla, it's clear for the world to see that SC Braga is also a team that's 100 percent lethal on the counter attack.

Braga manager Domingos Paciência has played on the strengths of his players to perfection, blending rock solid defenders brilliantly with quick, strong and skilful attackers with the pace to run down channels and in behind opposition defenders.

That combined with wingers of impeccable fitness like Alan and strong, disciplined yet box-to-box midfielders like Vandinho, has given Paciência a seemingly perfect formula for further success at Portugal's newest contender to the Big Three monopoly of Porto, Benfica and Sporting Lisbon.

Against teams with slow defenders, no matter their general defensive ability, attackers like Matheus and Lima have the ability to cause offensive havoc for Braga and quite possibly yield goal upon goal for Os Guerreiros do Minho.

And unless opponents have the likes of Lionel Messi or Didier Drogba within their ranks, the chances of scoring against a team built on defensive discipline like Braga are slim to say the least, proven by the fact that Braga only conceded 20 goals from 30 games in the Portuguese Liga last season as they finished second for the first time in their history, three points ahead of Porto and a whopping 23 ahead of Sporting Lisbon.

It's fair to say then, that overall SC Braga really do appear to be a club on the rise. And with a staggering 16 Brazilians in their squad, as well as players reaching the latter stages of their careers, it's clear that almost every player will now be relishing beyond belief the chance to play in the Champions League, as they'll have that burning desire of every professional footballer to showcase their talents on the biggest stage and prove to the world they can take on and become part of Europe's elite.

Therefore, with a mean defense, lethal counter-attack, skillful Brazilians, recently proven pedigree at the top, burning desire for success, and unbelievably high confidence levels following sensational victories, Sporting Clube de Braga now have all the ingredients required to build on 2009/10's remarkable success and make 2010/11 the most successful season in the club's history.

Just as the players will work harder than ever to prove their worth, so will relatively unknown manager Domingos Paciência, as the whole Braga team aim not only to be in the highest echelons of Portuguese football, but become part of Europe's elite.

Can Sporting Clube de Braga join Europe's elite? Only time will tell, but in the meantime, it's safe to say there's no limit to what these Braga boys can achieve.

Edicion digital 24/08/10

El entrenador del Real Madrid, Jose Mourinho, descartó hoy los fichajes de los delanteros del Manchester City, Emmanuel Adebayor, y del Chelsea, Didier Drogba.

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