Didier Drogba Hails Chelsea Team as the Best Squad He Has Ever Played In

Didier Drogba believes the current Chelsea side is the best he has ever played in during his time at Stamford Bridge.

The veteran striker came off the bench early on in Chelsea's Champions League group stage clash with NK Maribor to score the first goal of his second spell back at the club in a 6-0 victory.

The victory continues an unbeaten start to the season that has Jose Mourinho's side largely considered Premier League title favourites, and the only English team equipped to challenge for European honours.

Despite having tasted Champions League success with the Blues in 2012, Drogba believes the current side are even better.

"We have a lot more quality than the previous teams I played with," Drogba told ITV after the match. "The team is younger and there is still a lot of room for improvement."

Eden Hazard, Chelsea's regular penalty taker, handed the ball over to 'King Didier' to score his side's second of the night as the Blues eased past the Slovenian champions, a decision that irked manager Mourinho.

"I (wanted to take the penalty) to be honest, I wanted to score that goal," Drogba explained. "I asked him (Hazard) and he said 'yeah, no problem.'"

"That's the spirit we have in this team. We help each other and we are happy when everybody is scoring and it's good for my confidence."

The only negative on the night was injury to Loic Remy, whose thigh problem paved the way for Drogba's introduction after 16 minutes. Addressing the Frenchman's knock after the game, Mourinho confirmed he is likely to miss the weekend trip to Manchester United.

Top scorer Diego Costa is also a doubt after missing Tuesday's game and the weekend victory over Crystal Palace, but Mourinho insists he will not bemoan the club's minor crisis up front.

"We don't cry on injuries," the Portuguese boss said. "We just think one injury is an opportunity for somebody else and we can not hide.

"In this moment we have some problems with players who are not available to play but we will prepare on the next three days to try and be at our best possible level against an opponent we respect very, very much."