`Departing` Drogba says he would have stayed if Chelsea hadn`t won Champions League

London: Chelsea striker Didier Drogba, who has announced that he would be leaving Stamford Bridge at the end of the season, has claimed he wouldn`t have taken the decision to leave the club if they hadn`t beaten Bayern Munich in the Champions League final at Allianz Arena to become the European champions.

"I would have stayed if we hadn`t won the Champions League. We`ve been chasing this trophy for eight years. We even saw the cup in Moscow [in 2008], walking by it, and we could not touch it," The Telegraph quoted Drogba, as saying. "That was the challenge for the guys who were in Moscow. We wanted to go back and win it. We did everything to do that. It cost us the league, but it was worth it," he added. "Saturday was my last Chelsea game and it has been a fantastic eight years. To finish on a high with this Champions League final was the best of the best, la creme de la creme as we say in French," he said. Drogba said he was proud of his achievements at Chelsea, and playing for the Blues was the best that had happened to him. "The last two days I was feeling more 40 than 24! To play a final at 34, and play extra time, and to give what I gave, I can be proud of myself," Drogba said. "To play for Chelsea was the best thing that could happen to me in my life, not only as a player but as a person. I made a lot of friends here which is very difficult normally in football, and they will be my friends for life because we made history here," he added. ANI