Jose Mourinho has made his mind up who he wants in the first knock-out round of the Champions League – Didier Drogba's Galatasaray.
But the Chelsea boss insists that it is not a case of thinking the Turkish champions would be easy pickings, he just want his old striker to enjoy an emotional return at the club he graced.
Chelsea's 1-0 win against Steaua Bucharest in their final group stage fixture gives them top spot and means they avoid the big favourites Bayern, Real and Barcelona.
Galatasaray are among the five teams the Blues could face – the others being Milan, Leverkusen, Olympiakos and Zenit.
“I think he deserves to come here. I think he deserves a reception here,” said the Chelsea boss, mindful that it was Drogba's winning penalty that won the Champions League final in Munich in 2012.
“Even better he deserves much more than me. I think he deserves to come here and get a reception like I did against Hull City but with double or three times bigger than what I had.
“What I felt, I think he deserves. Yes Galatasaray is very difficult, but I would like Didier to be back here and to feel what I felt.”
Although the Blues will be favourites to progress, whoever they get in the second round draw, Mourinho has warned it will not be straight forward.
“I think there are good teams in the second seeds,” he said.
“Of course we look to the top ones that won the groups and you see there the main candidates to win the competition, but in the second position you have difficult teams.
“You have champions, the Russian champions, the Greek champions. We have a German team in Leverkusen. You have the Turkish champions with king Didier and Milan is Milan. They only won seven times.
“So it's hard and when we go to the knock-out phase, things become very tactical and emotional. It will be always difficult – and the fact the second leg is at home means nothing.
“Also, some of my players didn't play knock-out stages in the champions league so it will be a new scenario for some of them.”
