So you may now recognise him as the head of U.E.F.A. and the man that moved the Champions League from a Wednesday night to a Saturday night. What you may not know is that Platini, for 3 or 4 years, was the best player in the world. A fabulous midfield play-maker of the highest level, Platini could destroy teams on his own when he was in the mood. The French side of the early 1980′s was a fabulous flowing football machine that perhaps should have won a World Cup but for one problem. West Germany.

Both in 1982 and 1986, France got to the semi-finals of the World Cup and both times they failed to get past West Germany. In between those semi-final heartbreaks, the French had won Euro 84 on home soil and were one of the best sides in the world. Platini’s artistry on the ball saw his country achieve heights they hadn’t matched for nearly 50 years but they fell short when it really mattered. During this period the French midfield were known as the “magic square”.

The only real issue the French had was the lack of a top quality striker and the teams tactics were designed to allow Platini to switch from midfield play-maker to centre forward with ease. It seems odd these days, but it sometimes falls that a country simply miss a player of real ability in a particular position for years. England had problems with both full back positions in the last few years but it was probably the lack of a top quality striker that held the French back on the world stage.

Of course, psychologically, West Germany had the Indian sign over the French especially after the horrific Schumacher challenge on Patrick Battison in the 1982 semi-final and whilst they were 3-1 up in that game, in 1986, the Germans never let them have a sniff at goal and won 2-0. Platini would join the ranks of players who never managed to win the World Cup despite being probably the best player in the world and is also in a select band of players that scored in 3 different World Cups, 1978, 1982 and 1986.

Platini was such a beautiful player, he never looked rushed whenever he was in possession. World Class players always seem to have so much time on the ball, but that’s what separates them from the rest. They just have that something else that allows them to achieve more than their contemporaries. Platini, for a midfielder scored so many goals and is currently France’s second highest international goalscorer, with 41 which he looks likely to hang on to for some considerable time.

His club career as well saw him leave the confines of the French League, after playing with AS Nancy and St. Etienne, to join Juventus in 1982 and he continued to deliver excellence after a difficult first 5 months in Italy. Playing in tandem with the Polish maestro Zbigniew Boniek who also joined the same year, Juventus were a force of football throughout the mid-1980′s. Under a youthful Giovanni Trapattoni, Juventus challenged for titles both at home and abroad, all built on the abilities of Platini.

Ironically, when Zidane retired immediately after the 2006 World Cup, it reminded me of when Platini bowed out in 1987, still only 32. No fuss, no real reasons, they’d just had enough of the game. Yet for the last 15 years, Platini has climbed the ladder in Eurpean football since being involved in running the 1998 World Cup and has been head of UEFA for 3 years now. From the footballing king of Europe in the 1980′s to the ruler of European football is some ride, but Platini never turned away from hard-work and dedication. A true World Cup legend of the modern age.

Please leave me your comments below or find me on twitter: http://www.twitter.com/paulbestall

My memories of how I learned about the news regarding the Hillsborough Disaster and the Bradford Fire Disaster are a lot more vivid than what happened 25 years ago today in the Heysel Stadium Disaster. Part of the reason was because both the Hillsborough and Valley Parade games were played on a Saturday, while the European Cup Final of 1985 was played on a Wednesday night in Brussels. For me, living in the United States, it was certainly easier to follow games on my shortwave radio on a Saturday morning when the signal was much more clearer than on a Wednesday afternoon when I would be working and the signal strength was abysmal.

Of course, these were the days long before when there was no live English football on television in the United States.

My memory is fuzzy but I  news of the Heysel Stadium Disaster was on the nightly network news in the States that evening. I remember feeling disgusted and ashamed of being a football supporter. This was only two weeks after the awful Bradford City fire disaster. And four years before the Hillsborough Stadium Disaster that was caused by a failure of police control.

While the death of football supporters at Hillsborough and Valley Parade was linked to circumstances outside of football hooliganism, the cause of death for the 39 fans who died on May 29 1985 can be linked directly to football hooliganism after they died when a wall collapsed due to Juventus fans trying to escape from the onrushing Liverpool supporters.

For the 1985 European Cup Final between Liverpool and Juventus, the Heysel Stadium in Belgium was segregated with Liverpool supporters at one end of the ground and Juventus fans at the other. However, next to the Liverpool supporters section was Block Z, which was meant for neutral supporters. These neutral tickets were put on open sale in Brussels in the weeks leading up to the tournament. Within hours of going on sale, they were all sold many of which were bought by the substantial Italian population in Brussels as well as travel agents and ticket touts. A small percentage of the tickets sold ended up in the hands of Liverpool fans.

On the day of the European Cup Final, Liverpool supporters found themselves next to a large contingent of Juventus fans, separated just by a few yards. Missiles began to be thrown by each set of team supporters. And many of them found stones from the crumbling terraces beneath them. Approximately one hour before the game was scheduled to start, the throwing of missiles became more intense. A group of Liverpool supporters then charged across the terraces and into the “neutral” section where the Juventus supporters stood. This caused the Juventus supporters to retreat. But having nowhere to escape, they ended moving towards a perimeter wall near the corner flag. Under the weight of all of the fans against the wall, some who tried to escape over it, the wall collapsed. At this point, most of the deaths occurred. Thirty nine in total and more than 600 people were injured.

The UEFA officials decided that the game should go ahead. Otherwise if they cancelled the game, they feared it would incite more violence. It was a game that few cared about after what had happened on the terraces.

Officially, the entire blame for the Heysel Stadium Disaster was placed on Liverpool supporters by UEFA. After an 18-month investigation by a Belgian judge, the dossier concluded that the blame should be shared by Liverpool supporters, police and football authorities.

As a result of the Heysel Disaster, UEFA banned English clubs from competing in European competitions for five years. Liverpool ended up being banned for six years.

Of the 39 football fans who died that terrible day, 32 of them were Italian fans of Juventus, four were Belgians, two French people and one man from Northern Ireland. May they all rest in peace.

Fulham’s amazing transformation under Roy Hodgson just keeps reaching new heights and sending their fans in to raptures. I know I’ve written about Roy Hodgson and the fact that the British press have virtually ignored his career until he took over at Fulham, but no-one could have expected this level of improvement from the Cottagers.

2 years ago they were all but relegated from the Premiership and when they went 2-0 down in a league game against Manchester City, they were technically down. Amazingly though they recovered and won that game 3-2, going on a run that saw them survive on the last day of the season. Now here we are in April 2010 and they have a Europa Cup Final to look forward to in 13 days time.

I’ve been sick and tired of people doing the Europa League down, for Fulham and their fans it is a monumental achievement and they deserve to celebrate long in to the night. The achievements of Roy Hodgson can no longer be ignored by the British media who will no doubt be jumping on the bandwagon as we speak, propelling the Fulham manager to demi-god status. They’re about 10 years behind but they’ll never let on just how much they’ve underestimated the like-able Londoner.

As much as Fulham’s European success has been a revelation for the club, it has cemented the managerial abilities of Hodgson. He has taken London’s smallest Premier League club to their first ever continental final and achieved something that some more celebrated English managers have not achieved. I’m truly delighted for them, for him and the Fulham fans.

After the game, Hodgson said “After going a goal down against the run of play I think we made a major piece of history here tonight in a very special atmosphere. We have beaten a very good team and I’m drained after the emotional roller-coaster. I think lots of teams would have lost their discipline and shape, but we stayed strong.”

They’ve seen off more famous and illustrious opponents throughout this cup run and just when you thought they’d come a cropper, they found hidden reserves of mental strength and fortitude to fight back in every knock out tie. Shaktar Donetsk, Roma, Juventus, Wolfsburg and now Hamburg have fallen when all common sense told you that Fulham couldn’t or wouldn’t beat them. They did and with such lovely football too.

Of course, they’ll now face Athletico Madrid who have put Liverpool out tonight, which I’m delighted with. Not disrespecting Liverpool, but now all the build up in the UK will focus on Fulham, which is what they deserve. If Liverpool had made it, we would have had constant coverage of Benitez’s miserable and moronic press conferences which I’ve seen more than I deserve to over the last 5 years. Now Fulham and their fans can bask in the next two weeks as the excitement builds towards Hamburg.

They must be in shock, stunned as they’ve seen the transformation of their team in such a short space of time. Enjoy it Fulham fans and I truly, really want you to win the cup. Congratulations to all of you. Now get drunk!

Juventus keeper, and Italian World Cup hero, Gianluigi Buffon is reportedly looking for a way out of Serie A and Manchester looks to be his destination. The only question is whether he’ll end up in blue or red. Juventus is reportedly asking for around £30 million and both clubs seemed poised to make serious offers. City has shown over the past few off-seasons their willingness to throw around cash to bring in big-name talent while United desperately need someone to replace the rapidly aging Edwin van der Sar.

But the question is should City really be shelling out the cash for Buffon? He is one of the greatest goalkeepers in the world, that can’t be argued but current City goalkeeper Shay Given has shown to be more than capable between the pipes. City have the highest payroll of any club in the Premier League but as we have all seen with Real Madrid wealth does not always equal results. This constant switching of players does not build the sense of community so vital for a side that wins year in and year out.

Some will say the constant rotation of players in and out of a squad is “just football” but if you look at clubs like Chelsea, Manchester United, Barcelona and Inter Milan, they grow their players and make them part of a psuedo family. A player needs to feel like they belong and won’t be replaced the second a bigger name comes available. All-star teams have been tried for decades in almost every sport and never live up their promise. That’s because a great team is greater than the sum of it’s parts. That extra little bit generated by the chemistry and trust between players is the difference between scoring or conceding that late winner.

But the simplest reason to save money on Buffon is that City need help in several positions, and goalkeeper isn’t one of them. Midfielder Martin Petrov will likely find another club next season, Carlos Tevez is the only consistent scoring threat and Mancini has yet to show he has command over his players. These variables add up to a side that show flashes of brilliance, such as their thrashing of Chelsea or the 6-1 defeat of Brunley, but can also lay an egg like they did Saturday against United. This disparity is not even Mancini’s fault. When a club puts out money for players like City is right now it creates the idea that the player is more important than the coach. Do you think anyone at Old Trafford feels that way?

Speaking of Old Trafford, that is exactly where Buffon should end up. Sir Alex Ferguson likes players that are not only talented, but hardworking and keep out of the tabeloids. Buffon brings leadership and stability once provided by Rio Ferdinand and Gary Neville. Despite being 32 the Italian Captain has at least four of five years ahead of him and can United really expect another keeper to come available in time to replace van der Sar?

Regardless of which Manchester club wins the bidding war I’m excited to see Buffon in the Premier League next season. Not only is he a fantastic shot stopper but one of the most charismatic and  entertaining personalities in the European game.

European football occasionally throws up the odd freak result, but sometimes you witness a display of football brilliance so sharp it takes your breath away. Tonight, Fulham dazzled and displayed such panache against the tottering giants of Italian football, Juventus, that you had to check that things had really happened.

For a side who are enjoying only their second season of European football, tonight will be remembered as one of the sides greatest achievements. 3-1 down from a first leg that threatened to run away from them and incredibly 4-1 down when Trezeguet shot the Old Lady ahead after just two minutes, Fulham rose to the challenge and surpassed all expectations.

There is no doubt that Roy Hodgson is certainly writing a rather large chapter in Fulham’s history books and his continued success is testament to his ability, so often overlooked in England. After this latest success, there is no hiding from the fact that he has transformed Fulham from also rans to a dynamic football side. In just under two and half years, Hodgson has turned the Cottagers from relegation fodder to a fast improving side challenging for regular Europa League football.

Tonight, the watching Fabio Capello couldn’t have helped to be impressed by Bobby Zamora. He made Cannavaro look like he’d never played the game before tonight, despite his age. It was only a matter of time before Cannavaro, constantly struggling to cope with Zamora’s strength and power, would see red and when it happened, Juventus capitulated.

The cries for Zamora’s inclusion in the England squad will surely grow louder after this display. He’s clearly enjoying his best ever season in top flight football .With Crouch and Heskey struggling for form and goals and Carlton Cole finding fitness hard to come by, he could be a late inclusion for South Africa.

Three months ago, such a proclamation would be greeted with jeers, now it seems like common sense. His only problem would seem to be the lack of international football before now and the announcement of the squad. The newly announced friendly on May 26th would seem to be his only chance, but Capello likes players in form and Zamora is bang in the middle of a never ending purple patch.

The icing on the cake for Fulham tonight was supplied by Clint Dempsey with a wonderful goal to take them 5-4  ahead on aggregate. A sublime chip of real quality, it was a breath taking strike that deserved to win a World Cup final, never mind a last sixteen match in the Europa League. Another red card followed for the shell-shocked I Bianconeri as Duff was spitefully kicked by Zebina. Fulham fans couldn’t believe what they were witnessing, it was a footballing masterclass.

The re-emergence of Damien Duff too, who struggled for so long as Newcastle United slowly died a lingering death shouldn’t be overlooked. Having seemingly lost his way after leaving Chelsea, Duff has rediscovered the form that caused Chelsea to pay £18 million for the left winger back in 2004. It shouldn’t be understated that Hodgson was Duff’s first manager, the relationship now coming full circle. It seems to be a situation that has paid dividends for both of them.

Nights like tonight don’t come around too much for fans who support any other club outside England’s big four and there will be plenty of sore heads tomorrow morning in West London. For a club renowned for its friendliness, it’s a marvelous result that will be etched on every single fans collective consciousness forever. A fabulous advert for football and a complete anti-thesis to the performance seen at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday from the neighbours and rivals.

I truly wish the draw for the Quarter-Finals is kind to them, but after dispatching Juventus and defending champions, Shaktar Donetsk prior to that, I think teams will be wanting to avoid Fulham rather than the other way round. Congratulations to Fulham and I hope their fans soak in every minute of tonight, where can this European adventure take them? It was probably the best game I’ve seen all season and one of the best performances by an English club in Europe I’ve ever seen.

Well when your side is screaming out for a centre half, why not simply go out and sign a centre midfielder who’s lost his pace and has struggled with injuries for 3 seasons. Yes, Roberto Mancini seems to think that by signing a creaky Patrick Vieira, it’ll help shore up a leaky defence. 5 years ago, Viera was clearly one of the best centre midfielders in Europe, but his four years in Italy have seen his reputation decline.

Whilst certainly not past it by any stretch of the imagination, I cannot believe Vieira can cope with the pace of Premiership football any more. I know his move is motivated by being a regular starter for France, but he hasn’t started a competitive game for Les Blues since August 2007 and I do not see the benefit of disrupting the midfield pairing of Gareth Barry and Nigel De Jong.

It also sends a signal that the manager has no confidence in his midfield anchor men, when Manchester City’s back four have been far more culpable for their weaknesses this season. Barry and De Jong have been amongst City’s better performers this season, and for all the spin that has accompanied Mancini’s victories against Stoke City, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Middlesbrough, it’s doubtful that City wouldn’t have won those games with Mark Hughes in charge.

It seems like City are entering that dimension that Real Madrid lived in where players are signed on reputation rather than ability and the wisdom in signing Vieira will become clearer over the next few weeks. The warning signs are there though with Vieira’s total appearances over the last 3 and a half seasons at Internazionale totals 72 games in all competitions. Italian football is not the high paced, frenetic standard of the Premiership and I don’t think Vieira will be able to cope.

By all means, Vieira was one of the stand out midfielders in world football during his spell at Arsenal, of that there is absolutely no doubt. Yet Wenger’s transfer policy of removing older players before they deteriorate at Arsenal has yet to blow up in his face. Remember everyone banging on about what a great pair of signings Adebayor and Toure were in the summer? They’ve strangely gone quiet already. Adebayor’s 6 goals this season and the leakiest defence in the Premierships top ten seem to once again back Wengers judgement.

Of course, the additional revenue that Vieira will bring through shirt sales will be the only thing that Gary Cook will be interested in. The ability the cover the wage package of apparently £140,000 a week won’t be overly important to the owners but surely the value has to be on the pitch. We’re not talking about a David Beckham icon here, we’re talking about a man who can’t get in the worse French team in 15 years. Vieira struggled to cope with the recovery period in his spell at Arsenal when he was at his prime, so I’ve no idea how he can cope with the demands it’ll put on him now.

Mourinho has been deploying him solely as a defensive midfielder, but he still tries to play his old role and gets caught out of position, he hasnt got the pace to get back and he lacks the tenacity to fly in to the tackles like he used to. He’s earned rave reviews for his last Inter performance against Chievo, but come on, it’s hardly the Milan derby is it. I just don’t see the wisdom of the signing, I just feel it’ll tarnish one of the best midfielders in Premiership history’s legacy and that would be a shame.

As it’s World Cup draw week, I thought I’d share one of my favourite football stories with you, about the first ever World Cup, though it was only for domestic sides at the time.I heard this story for the first time when I was nine, due to it being made in to a television drama in 1981, called a Captain’s Tale. It made a real impression on me, because it seemed so far fetched, yet was true and here’s how it happened.

After the success of the first Olympic football tournament at the London Olympics of 1908, a gentleman by the name of Sir Thomas Lipton had an idea to have a World Cup. Whilst the Olympic tournament had been for amateur players only, Lipton wanted the best professional club sides in the world to compete for a trophy, which would be called the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy. He approached the English F.A. who refused to have anything to do with such a nonsense.

It was sad to say, but in those days, the English F.A. tended to look down at most countries in the world and upheld it’s insular and rather outdated opinions for far too long. Suffice to say, they refused to play in the first 3 official world cups, as of course, England believed they were the best in the world and had no need to prove it by playing horrible little foreign teams. Maybe in those first 3 World Cups, England could have added another trophy to the meagre one World Cup win in the last 80 years, we’ll never know but it wouldn’t have hurt to have a go.

So, rebuffed by the English F.A., an employee of Sir Thomas Lipton suggested an amateur side be chosen, as the F.A couldn’t interfere and a request went out to the teams in the Northern League, which is still functioning and is part of the English non league pyramid system. The only side that came back with interest were West Auckland F.C., a side made up of coal miners from Durham. So, Lipton accepted them as England’s representatives and the team had to travel to Turin.

Sir Thomas Lipton

Now, somehow, this little team of coalminers managed to raise the majority of the funds required to travel all the way to Turin, most of them pawning personal possessions to enable them to reach their destination but it proved a sacrifice worth making. Drawn against top German side, Stuttgarter Sportfruende, in the semi final,  Auckland ran out 2-0 winners and amazingly went on to beat F.C. Winterthur 2-0 too to become the first winners of the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy.

Returning to Durham as heroes, the club were once again invited to defend the trophy in 1911, but this time the opposition were a little more familiar. Facing the defending champions in the semi-finals were F.C. Zurich, but once again the amateurs would not buckle to the better equipped side and once again triumphed 2-0. This then set up a mesmerising final against the home side, Italian giants Juventus but amazingly West Auckland thrashed them 6-1.

Under the rules of the tournament, West Auckland were allowed to keep the trophy, but this is were the tale takes a sad turn. Almost bankrupted in no small part due to the travelling to Italy twice in two years, the team had to pawn the trophy to their landlady to cover debts but the side still went under in 1912.The club reformed in 1914 as West Auckland Town and returned to the Northern League where they still remain to this day.

As for the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy, it remained in the landlady’s family until 1960, when an appeal by the village of West Auckland saw them buy it back. Yet tragedy struck the club once more, when it was stolen in 1994 and has never been found since. A replica was commissioned and that now stands in the clubhouse, securely held a safe cabinet. This year also saw the club play Juventus in a friendly to celebrate the centenary of that first win, which they lost 7-1, but fair play on Juventus for enabling the club to celebrate what must go down as one of the strangest stories in English football.

Group A

Bayern Munchen
Juventus
Bordeaux
Maccabi Haifa

Group B

Manchester United
CSKA Moskow
Besiktas
Wolfsburg

Group C

AC Milan
Real Madrid
Marseille
FC Zurich

Group D

Chelsea
Porto
Atletico Madrid
APOEL

Group E

Liverpool
Lyon
Fiorentina
Debrecen

Group F

Barcelona
Internazionale
Dynamo Kiev
Rubin Kazan

Group G

Sevilla
Rangers
Stuttgart
Unirea Urziceni

Group H

Arsenal
AZ Alkmaar
Olympiakos
Standard Liege

Reaction

Manchester United along with Arsenal have fairly straightforward groups and both should be looking to come out on top.

Chelsea have a couple of tough away trips to Porto and Madrid, while APOEL will prove to be Group D’s whipping boys.

Liverpool have a very tricky draw, Lyon spent big in the summer and thrashed Anderlecht in the qualifiers, plus Fiorentina are always a tough team, though I would expect Liverpool to progress as winners.

Other highlights include Zlatan Ibrahimovic returning to Inter and Kaka facing his beloved Milan. While Scottish representatives Rangers will be looking to progress and have a real chance of doing so.

Your thoughts on the draw please.

It seems like yesterday for some football fans, a day burned in to the memories of English footballs collective consciousness. The 1980′s saw three major footballing disasters hit English football, The dreadful fire at Bradford City’s title party which claimed the lives of 56 fans on May 11th 1985, 18 days later we then witnessed the horror of live football hooliganism on our TV’s instead of the European Cup final, as 39 fans lost their lives. It still astounds me that Liverpool and Juventus were forced to play the game after the chaos was still echoing around Heysel and of course April 15th 1989, the Hillsborough disaster during the F.A.Cup semi final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest.

As a teenager when all 3 events occurred, these are moments that are still so fresh in my mind, placed away in dark corners of my footballing supportingbrain but Hillsborough is an event that is closer than it should have been. I live in Sheffield and every year I take two little bunches of flowers down to Sheffield Wednesdays ground on the anniversary, leaving a bunch by the Memorial and then I take the hardest walk I can through choice down to the Leppings Lane end of the ground which witnessed the dreadful events that day.

I stand around, tears streaming down my face and remember the two good friends I lost that day, my father in law trying his best to help people inside the ground as people lay dying and critically injured all around him. Trying to do his best against insurmountable odds but overwhelmed by the events surrounding him. He had 5 people die in his arms that day, but saved twice as many. I shudder to think that I turned a ticket down that my Liverpool supporting mates had going spare.20 years ago? It seems like yesterday sometimes.

I could have been there, caught up in the middle of chaos. It took me 9 years to go in to the away end of Wednesdays ground and I still don’t like it. Every time Spurs played them I sat with the Wednesday fans, regardless of the stick I took, I simply couldn’t sit there. I was terrified. Suffice to say, I do not miss Sheffield Wednesday being in the Premiership, sorry Wednesday fans.

Regardless of your feelings towards Liverpool, it’s an event that proved a watershed for football around the world, that finally made the authorities and football clubs deal with the crumbling, decaying grounds that we had to put up with in the 1980′s. The Premiership was born that day, but what a price to pay in so many lives lost. It is a day that respect should be shown to Merseyside, not just Liverpool and their fans, but everyone affected in the area by the events.

Yet, here we are, 30 days away from the Quarter Finals of the Champions League and it appears UEFA are still debating if Liverpool should have to play on April 15th. It’s a non starter for me and one of those things about the administration of football that still flabbergasts me by the stupidity of some people involved in the running of the game at the top level. How hard is it to come out and simply make a statement that Liverpool will play either April 14th or the 16th? It’s not rocket science is it but then again, it is UEFA, so I shouldn’t be surprised. It just infuriates me when things like this occur. Call themselves football people? They haven’t a clue.

As happened last season when we saw the 50th anniversary of Munich air disaster and people started having fits when the fixture computer threw out a Manchester Derby for the weekend after. The fact that Manchester City legend Frank Swift was one of the victims of the disaster seemed to be missed by a large amount of media and authorities, fearful that City fans would ruin the day. City’s fans that day were a credit to themselves and the club and regardless of their allegiances, Manchester was a City in mourning after Munich, no matter which side you supported, City or United, Manchester lost a lot on February 6th 1958.

UEFA should come out with something worthwhile for once and assure Liverpool they will not play on April 15th. For the memories of the 96 people that died, the families, friends and witnesses to that day, show us the respect we deserve to mourn our loss, however we see fit that day. Is it too much for us to expect of UEFA to do the right thing for once?

Why is Michael Essien so underrated is a mystery to me. I must admit that I was nonplussed about him as a player, knowing next to nothing about him when he signed for Chelsea from Lyon in August 2005 for £24 million. That was in the dark days before I had Setanta and could immerse myself in French football as often as I wished. Yet, it took next to no time for me to be impressed by his dynamic style and work rate, for me he’s easily one of the best midfielders in world football and this season has shown just how important he is for Chelsea.

His performances in the three games he’s played since returning from the damaged cruciate ligament he picked up playing for Ghana against Libya have been sensational, I consider him a swashbuckling player, dynamic runs, powerful in the tackle, yet a lovely range of passing, good in the air and the positional adaptability that all managers would adore to have in their team. His goal against Juventus showed that he wasn’t held back by his injury as some players can be on their return. By throwing himself at the ball and the imposing figure of Gianluigi Buffon, without a care about his knee showed he wanted to score over anything else, he just wanted to drag his team level and also evaporate any doubts over his long term fitness.Against Manchester City yesterday, he could have had a hatrick.

Essien has shown in those games just how important he is and yet he knows he has to push the continual development of his game. When he first joined, the only thing about his game that I thought he lacked was his goalscoring, only getting two in his debut season at Chelsea. He’s certainly added that to his game since though, and his two goals in Chelsea’s last two games were massive, massive goals. The goal against Juventus, coming when it did, was such a crucial strike. If Chelsea had gone in at half time one nil down, especially scoring a goal that the referee and linesman missed, they’d be out of Europe now, no question about it. The dreadful decision would have weighed down on them and I don’t think they’d have been able to pick themselves up enough in the second half, but Essien saved the day.

His return to fitness couldn’t come at a better time for the Blues and Guus Hiddink as we reach the final furlong in European football. The Premiership is too far out of reach, regardless of Liverpool’s destruction of Manchester United on Saturday, but with Chelsea still in the F.A.Cup and Champions League, the possibility of having two cracks at silverware is tantalising close. Essien will be crucial in this run in now, his drive and effervescence, matchless in Chelsea’s engine room.

With sounds emanating from Stamford Bridge that Chelsea look likely to have a major clear out in the Summer, Essien, along with Lampard and Anelka, would be top of the list of players to keep hold of with no question of selling any of that trio and building the new Chelsea around them for a serious assault on four fronts. Essien has to be the fulcrum, the pivot that allows the team to move freely. Get that balance right and Chelsea can look to scale the heights they achieved under Mourinho once again next year.