Former Chelsea stars Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou and Jon Obi Mikel reunited for a meal this week – but their former coach Jose Mourinho couldn’t help but feel left out.
The trio, who were part of Mourinho’s incredibly successful side during his first stint at Stamford Bridge between 2004 and 2007 – enjoyed a lunch together before Mikel shared a photo with the caption: ‘Still no statues but watch out!’
Mourinho – now at Roma – was quick to respond to the group’s post, as he joked: ‘Daddy is missing! You rich guys can enjoy holiday time,’ as he added a heart emoji.
The veteran Portuguese coach managed Drogba for his full three seasons in west London, with the Ivorian scoring 22 goals in Mourinho’s first two seasons to help the club to back-to-back titles in 2004-05 and 2005-06.
However, he only worked with Kalou and Mikel for just over one season after signing them in 2006-07 before he was sacked early on in the 2007-08 campaign. Kalou played 58 games under Mourinho in his first season, scoring nine times, while Mikel played a total of 42 games.
Drogba would go on to become a club legend after netting 157 times across eight seasons, leading the Blues to four league titles, four FA Cups, three league cups and the Champions League – which he almost single-handedly won for the club in 2012.
Mikel finished his Chelsea career with 372 appearances and 11 trophies across 10 seasons, while Kalou played 254 games, scoring 60 in the process.
Former Chelsea stars David Luiz and Nemanja Matic – who also played under Mourinho – responded to the picture with laughing emojis.
After Mourinho was sacked by Chelsea in 2007-08, he went on to huge success at Inter Milan and Real Madrid before returning to the Bridge and winning another league title in 2014-15.
He then endured mixed spells at Manchester United and Tottenham before moving to Roma, where he won the UEFA Conference League in 2021-22.
Source: MailOnline Sport
