Jose Mourinho says Didier Drogba does not need to do anything to convince him of his greatness.

The Chelsea boss has also lauded the 36-year-old's staying power after two games in 48 hours.

Ivorian striker Drogba captained Chelsea on Tuesday night as they narrowly defeated League Two Shrewsbury Town in the Capital One Cup, scoring himself and leaving his imprint on the defender who netted Chelsea's own goal winner.

Asked if this performance sent Mourinho a message about Drogba's abilities the Blues boss said: “He doesn't need to send messages to me. I think the message I want is the message him, Felipe (Luis), Oscar and (Gary) Cahill gave - which is doing something that you shouldn't be allowed to do, but they did.

“Which is to play two football matches in 48 hours. Shouldn't be allowed but it is allowed. And they were fantastic.”

Mourinho criticised the performances of Mohamed Salah and Andre Schurrle but was full of praise for some of the other squad players.

He said: “After that I had people like Petr Cech and (John Obi) Mikel, people that have lots of years in the club.

“Probably, they would prefer to start the game at Old Trafford, but they didn't. They came here today and fantastic example again.

“And after that people like the young boys. They look at them and they have to follow the spirit. They have to follow the professionalism.

“So today was the kind of game where, even if I lose, I would have had the same kind of words for my players. Because their respect for the competition, for the opponent, for Chelsea, for Chelsea fans was fantastic.”