Drogba, Yak To Clash In China

Drogba joined Chinese side, Shanghai Shenhua from reigning UEFA Champions League champions, Chelsea after signing a two-and-a-half year deal reportedly worth £200,000 a week.

And, Aiyegbeni who is the third highest goal scorer in history of the Super Eagles, joined Guangzhou R&F from relegated English Premier League side, Blackburn Rovers for an undisclosed fee in a three-year deal.

Both strikers made their mark in the Premiership with Drogba scoring the 88th minute equaliser against Bayern Munich and also netted the decisive penalty which gave Chelsea their first UEFA Champions League trophy, while Yak,  who scored 137 goals in all club competitions during his nine-year spell in England could not help his former club escape relegation.

However, both strikers are arguably among the best Africans ever to have played in the Premiership, which some pundits have adjudged the most glamorous and a must watch league in the world. Shenhua, will draw strength from the goal scoring prowess of Drogba, who has scored more goals for his former club than any other foreign player and left Chelsea as the fourth highest goal scorer of all time.

Unlike Drogba who has a herculean task of helping his club out of the relegation zone, Yakubu will go into the game without much pressure, as his club are sixth on the Chinese League table at the moment.

Interestingly both players have never scored against each other, especially during their clubs’ previous matches in the EPL.

Aiyegbeni joined Portsmouth on loan but in May 2003 he made the deal permanent for a fee of £4 million. He played 37 of Portsmouth’s 38 Premier League matches in 2003-04, starting all but two, he scored a total of 16 goals which made him the club’s leading goal scorer and joint-sixth highest scorer in the entire league.

Yakubu left Portsmouth for Middlesborough for a £7.5m and played for them through the 2004/05/06 season.

When Yakubu joined Everton in August 2007 for a fee of £11.25 million on a five-year deal, he fired blank against Chelsea despite scoring a huge 21 goals one short of 22 he set, when he signed the deal.

Drogba also couldn’t score for his team against Yakubu’s club. During Yakubu’s stay in England, the only time he couldn’t score was when he was on loan to Leicester City in the lower division.

In the twilight of his sojourn with Blackburn, Yakubu scored a total of 18 goals but none of the goals was against Chelsea.

Meanwhile, the match between Yakubu’s club against Drogba’s team will undoubtedly turn the heat on other teams in the Chinese League, and the fans are going to enjoy every bit of it.