Alex and Senor Torres

During the two ties with Galatasaray, we were all treated to deserved tributes far and wide for our dearly departed Didier Drogba. However, with PSG in our midst, I think mention should be made of another ex-Chelsea player who was certainly very 'committed' to the cause, the Brazilian central defender Alex.

I always liked Alex. Admittedly, this hard man was liable to have yellow pieces of paper thrust in front of his face by a disapproving referee [and yes he was one of Chris Foy's multitude of Chelsea victims]. However, Alex had a no-nonsense approach to defending. He was a key member of the team that won the Double in 2010 and we will always fondly remember his free kicks. He scored from a free kick against Arsenal in the autumn of 2009, if I am not mistaken. However, my favourite Alex moment was when he fired a lightning bolt free kick into the Liverpoo net in that remarkable 4-4 in 2009 which incidentally was a Champions League quarter-final second leg at the Bridge. A bizarre omen perhaps? I liked the fact that by the time the Liverfools' wall had looked round behind them, Alex had run off to celebrate, and the wall, staggered by the power strike, were thinking WTF!

It was such a pity that AVB produced his bull in a china shop routine and fell out with Alex, or at least Alex fell out of favour with him and moved on in the January 2012 transfer window. Given AVB's miserable failures of late, he can scarcely be marked down as a great judge of footballing talent. Alex might still be a more than valuable member of our squad if AVB hadn't caused damage.

Meanwhile, an increasing number of Chelsea fans are kind of wishing that AVB had fallen out with Torres instead! So far, Fernando has scored a shocking total of nineteen Premiership goals for the Blues in over three years. When we were trouncing Arsenal and Stoke, he still walked off the field without a goal. If he is not embarrassed about that, let me feel embarrassed for him. I invite the reader to have a look at a YouTube recording by Fleetwood Mac of their chart-topper 'Albatross'. One of their guitarists, Jeremy Spencer did not appear on the record and yet he is miming to the televised appearance. This is stupid in the extreme. The fact that Torres is miming [some might say bluffing] his way through our recent triumphs is his very own Jeremy Spencer moment.

If the sorely missed Eto'o is unfit, Jose must decide whether to play Schurrle up front for the second leg or whether Fernando might truly earn his obscene wages in the Bridge encounter. One thing can be said in Fernando's favour. He has been an extremely lucky charm in Europe for Chelsea, having scored a number of important goals and even collected two winner's medals. Maybe he might find PSG to his liking, or is there more hope of Alex doing his old club a nice big favour?