I love you like a brother - Terry lauds retiring Drogba
John Terry says he hated playing against Didier Drogba in training for Chelsea after the striker confirmed his retirement at the age of 40.
Drogba has hung up his boots for good after Phoenix Rising, the club he co-owns, lost the USL Cup final to Louisville City.
The former Ivory Coast international will best be remembered for his time at Stamford Bridge, which brought four Premier League titles, four FA Cups and three EFL Cups.
Drogba also scored the decisive penalty against Bayern Munich to win Chelsea's first Champions League title, while he reached two Africa Cup of Nations finals.
Terry was Drogba's captain throughout his time at Chelsea and he offered a glowing tribute to his old team-mate on social media.
"Didier Drogba the KING," Terry posted on Instagram. "Congratulations on your retirement mate.
"It's been an absolute pleasure and an honour to have played and trained with you for 11 years.
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@didierdrogba the KING Congratulations on your retirement mate @chelseafc. It’s been an absolute pleasure and an honour to have played and trained with you for 11 years. Diddy you had everything as a player and I’m so glad (and lucky!) that we had you at Chelsea. I hated playing against you in training, your mentality to win every single day was infectious and that drove every single player in the squad to be better individually and collectively. Some of the goals and performances we all had the pleasure of seeing will stay with us forever but I’m genuinely blessed because I got to know the man @didierdrogba , and what a great man you are! Didier Drogba I love you like a brother and wish you every success with your next chapter in football and life. Thank you for the memories 19/05/2012 Love ya mate
A post shared by John Terry (@johnterry.26) on Nov 22, 2018 at 5:24am PST
"Diddy you had everything as a player and I'm so glad (and lucky!) that we had you at Chelsea. I hated playing against you in training, your mentality to win every single day was infectious and that drove every single player in the squad to be better individually and collectively.
"Some of the goals and performances we all had the pleasure of seeing will stay with us forever but I'm genuinely blessed because I got to know the man Didier Drogba - and what a great man you are!
"Didier Drogba I love you like a brother and wish you every success with your next chapter in football and life. Thank you for the memories 19/05/2012. Love ya mate."
You broke our hearts once but we still want to congratulate you on a superb career. All the best for the future. @didierdrogba #FCBayern #MiaSanMia pic.twitter.com/xEhNAs5aeI
— FC Bayern English (@FCBayernEN) November 22, 2018
Bundesliga champions Bayern also paid tribute to Drogba despite his winning penalty in the Champions League final, which denied the German giants the title on home soil.
"You broke our hearts once but we still want to congratulate you on a superb career," the club posted on Twitter. "All the best for the future."