Drogba ruins Ranieri´s return to Chelsea

Didier Drogba ruined Juventus manager Claudio Ranieri’s return to Chelsea as the Ivory Coast forward sealed a 1-0 win in the Champions League last 16 first leg on Wednesday.

Ranieri spent four years at Chelsea before being cast aside by Roman Abramovich to make way for Jose Mourinho in 2004 and Drogba’s first half strike at Stamford Bridge denied him the chance for immediate revenge.

The Italian coach could still have the last laugh though as Chelsea’s failure to turn their pressure into more goals leaves the tie on a knife-edge going into the return in Turin on March 10.

While Ranieri is fondly thought of at Chelsea, he was unable to deliver success during his reign.

Guus Hiddink, the latest man to take his turn in the Chelsea hot-seat, was brought in as a replacement for Luiz Felipe Scolari earlier this month with the expectation of winning the Champions League and making Manchester United sweat for the Premier League title.

On the evidence of this energetic display, Hiddink, in just his second game in charge, has brought a sense of purpose and unity to a dressing room divided over Scolari’s sacking.

Just as importantly Scolari’s stubborn policy of not playing Drogba and Nicolas Anelka in the same forward line has been scrapped.

Chelsea’s fans extended a warm welcome to Ranieri as he emerged from the tunnel to take his place on the bench, but the hospitality clearly didn’t extend to the pitch.

powerful motivation for the Blues and they made the kind of high-tempo start absent from the final days of Scolari’s reign.

The chance to avenge last year’s final defeat to Manchester United is aWith Drogba back from exile and finally looking motivated, Chelsea are suddenly a team brimming with power and poise.

Jose Bosingwa whipped in a tantalising cross from the right touchline and Drogba launched himself into a diving header that flashed just over.

When Drogba is in the right mood he can be unstoppable. He had a penalty appeal waved away in the 10th minute but Juventus had no answer as he opened the scoring two minutes later.

Salomon Kalou threaded a pass that dissected the Juventus defence and found Drogba, just onside, lurking on the edge of the area. The Ivorian was calmness personified as he took a touch before firing past Gianluigi Buffon.

It was Drogba’s first goal of 2009 and only his fourth this season. He should have added to that total when he muscled his way on to Frank Lampard’s corner moments later but mistimed his header and the ball drifted harmlessly wide.

Ranieri’s side responded with a lightning break that almost produced an equaliser. Former Chelsea midfielder Tiago’s astute pass picked out Alessandro Del Piero and the Juventus captain forced a fine save from Petr Cech with an angled drive.

Del Piero had another effort deflected wide before half-time but Chelsea’s relentless pressing gave Juventus little chance to settle.

Drogba showed no signs of easing up after half-time and he powered a header wide of Buffon’s near-post from another Bosingwa cross.

The darker side of Drogba’s game is the penchant for theatrics that made him so unpopular when he first moved to England. He displayed that less flattering trait when a rampaging run ended in a dramatic tumble that failed to earn the penalty he sought.

Lampard tested Buffon from long range but Chelsea lost some of their rhythm as the game wore on and found it increasingly difficult to prise open the Juventus defence.

Marco Marchionni went close for the the Italians with a vicious strike that narrowly cleared the crossbar before Amauri’s towering header forced Cech to save.

Although Anelka arrowed a fierce shot just wide in the closing stages, Chelsea were forced to settle for a perilously narrow margin of victory.