Drogba's heartbreak at losing Champions League final stopped him leaving Stamford Bridge

Didier Drogba has confessed it was only Chelsea's Champions League heartbreak that stopped him walking out of Stamford Bridge in the summer.

The Ivorian hitman revealed in November last year that he wanted to leave the club following the departure of his close pal and mentor Jose Mourinho.

And he admits he did consider seeking pastures new in the summer transfer window but felt he could not deliver another blow to Chelsea's reeling fans.

Drogba said: "It was in my head to leave but just a few days after Moscow I knew what I was going to do the next season and where I was going to be.

"I could not leave without winning anything, especially when we lost the Champions League Final after coming so close.

"I am settled in London and my family is settled in London and that is very important.

"Of course, when you watch things like the European Championship you always think you could go to this club and play with those players.

"But when you have a contract it is important to respect it, and I'm very happy with my contract."

In an interview broadcast on Chelsea TV, Drogba laid bare the pain of coming so close to winning the world's biggest club competition.

It was a defeat which compounded Chelsea's two semi-final exits in the previous three years.

And it holds even more painful memories for the striker, who was sent off with three minutes to go in extra-time for a petulant slap on Nemanja
Vidic.

Drogba so often the man responsible for conjuring a goal out of nothing when Chelsea most need it was forced to watch helplessly from the tunnel as Manchester United snatched the Champions League trophy on penalties.

But it could all have been so different. Drogba admits he would have taken a spot-kick had he not been dismissed by ref Lubos Michel a decision he still disputes.

He said: "I can cope with that sort of pressure most of the time so I would have stepped up to take one.

"I was sent off because I was very frustrated and emotional. I don't see how you could not be emotional at that stage of a game like that the
second half of extra-time, with three minutes left.

"It is something I should not have done but I do not think it was a red card.

"It was maybe a yellow in my opinion, but you have to respect the referees interpretation.

"As I walked off the pitch, I was so disappointed. That is why I did not acknowledge the fans. That walk was so hard, much harder than actually seeing the referee produce the red card. To walk past all the fans when that was our chance to win the Champions League.

"I wanted to be involved with the penalty shoot-out and I went back to the dressing-room and was just praying my friends could do it.

"When we lost, I could not come out of the tunnel, where I had seen everything happen. I couldn't bear to watch United lift the trophy."

Instead, Drogba remained shellshocked in Chelsea's dressing-room, where he waited for his team-mates to return.

When they did, the former Marseille striker did not apologise for his rush of blood to the head and he admitted the whole side was so shattered they could barely speak.

He added: "It was so quiet. I did not have to say anything. At times like that you can tell from the looks on everybody's faces what had happened.

"It was very difficult. We were so close to winning something we wanted so much."