A WET and at times uncomfortable evening in Shropshire for Chelsea ended with Jose Mourinho’s team squeezing into the quarterfinals.

    Didier Drogba continues his refusal to be ignored on his return to the club, scoring the first goal for Chelsea and making himself a nuisance for the winner, which came when Jermaine Grandison turned the ball past his own goalkeeper, Jayson Leutwiler, with nine minutes remaining.

    Mourinho will be relieved to return home with this game safely navigated as he prepares for Queens Park Rangers’ (QPR) visit on Saturday before the Champions League game with Maribor and the trip to Liverpool on Nov. 8.

    Understandably he picked out the 36-year-old Drogba for playing a second match in two days after he starred in Sunday’s 1-1 draw at Manchester United. Mourinho, though, was clear he expected more from some.

    “If players who play 90 minutes two days ago were fantastic tonight, I expect people who are not playing a lot to raise the level to create me problems. I love problems of choices [in selection]. And it is easy to choose my team for Saturday,” he said.

    Pushed if Andre Schurrle and Mo Salah, who started against Shrewsbury, were two players he wanted to give him a headache, he said: “Yeah.”

    Mourinho said normally Diego Costa could play against QPR following a hamstring problem but of Drogba being able to make it a third match in seven days he said: “We will see. His character is bigger than his body. His character is stronger than his body. So what he did today was maybe because of his character and not because of his body. So let’s see the reaction. This is what makes players special and if I was a kid player and I play with this guy on my side and I am 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 what can I wish more? So for the kids it has to be a privilege and they have to learn by example.”

    (SD-Agencies)