A look at special bonds between coaches, athletes

Chelsea midfielder Nemanja Matic (top centre) and Portuguese manager Jose Mourinho (right) place the crown of the Premier League trophy on the head of Ivorian striker Didier Drogba during the trophy presentation at Stamford Bridge in London on May 24, 2015. Drogba had forged a close bond with Mourinho.

As his form plummeted to depths never reached before in his professional club career and the goals dried up, Didier Drogba knew that he had an explanation to make.

He was forthright about it: “The mistake I made was to become emotionally attached to the coach,” he said. “When he left, I found myself unable to play my usual game. I felt kind of lost.”

The coach he was talking about was Jose Mourinho and the wilderness period he was enduring after the title winning but uncomfortably self-absorbed trainer was fired by Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.

Drogba had arrived at Chelsea shortly after Mourinho and for two years, they struck what later turned out to be the perfect player-coach relationship.

Drogba’s game scaled heights that surprised even himself and he became the darling of not only Chelsea fans, but football fans worldwide as well.

Beyond Chelsea, he was the axis around which the men who came to be known as the golden generation of the Cote d’Ivoire national team rotated. And then the end came.