Despite being teammates and good friends at Chelsea, former Arsenal defender, William Gallas has admitted that it was scary to play against Didier Drogba when he moved to Arsenal.
Drogba played for two seasons under Jose Mourinho as a teammate of Gallas, but the Frenchman switched to Arsenal after winning back-to-back Premier League titles at Stamford Bridge.
He faced Drogba daily in training, and he never really understood how powerful the Ivorian was.
However, when he moved to Arsenal, he then understood just how good the former Marseille striker was against his opponents.
Gallas. who would become Arsenal’s captain, admitted that he was scared of facing the striker who smashed through opponents to scored 33 goals in the 2006/2007 season.
‘I was used to seeing him in training, but you know how it goes: you’re never going at 100 per cent on the training pitch,’ Gallas told The Athletic.
‘So I never really understood why [Philippe] Senderos would just go missing in every match he played against Didier. But when I played against him myself in the Premier League with Arsenal, then I understood.
‘He had something about him, a power I’d never sensed as a team-mate, an aura I had never seen before. Facing that, you just shit yourself. He was so intimidating that it rattles you.
Gallas remains one of the few players to have played for Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham. He continued to face the Ivorian in the Premier League until Drogba left the competition in 2012.
