A lot of Newcastle United fans have responded to Taylor not Betsy’s post about the night Didier Drogba stopped the Toon from reaching the UEFA Cup final.
Newcastle drew 0-0 in the home leg, but in the second leg Drogba tore them apart and scored twice to send Marseille through to the final – where Valencia defeated them.
However, this tweet seems to have brought up some painful memories for these Newcastle fans.
Didier Drogba single handedly stopped #NUFC getting to a European final whilst playing for Marseille…? https://t.co/FE8ujr0FDl
— Taylor Payne (@TaylorandPayne) March 26, 2020
Not over this. Remember sobbing in my Toon shirt with no shoes on in a pub in Leeds ?
— Emma Thompson (@Jowse) March 26, 2020
One of the most mental atmosphere’s at a game I have ever been to, full on fire in the moat behind one of the goals at one point pic.twitter.com/AtkNOpBcwv
— Martin (@WASNAPPER) March 26, 2020
Still have nightmares about that game at theirs. Could never look at those blue mercurial vapors again.
Did speed hit the crossbar at St James? Tiny margins could of been so different.— Dominic Lissaman (@dlissaman) March 26, 2020
This is still surprisingly raw after all those years. Probably realization that the opportunity we lost there was likely the only one I’ll ever see us have. Brutal.
— Jared Simpson (@ChilMinJared) March 26, 2020
He destroyed us in that game. I’ve never personally witnessed a 1-man destruction of a team like that before or since. I’d never heard of him before the game and was glad (at the time) that we didn’t have to play against him in the league. He was streets ahead.
— Euan Hamilton (@Euan_Hamilton27) March 26, 2020
I’ve never seen a player boss a game like that. He scored his second, the Marseillaise unfurled a massive banner of a his face on it and I just crumbled.
— Benito_The_King (@BenitoTheKing2) March 26, 2020
Other Toon supporters, though, focused on Jonathan Woodgate’s injury.
Woodgate injury cost us for 2nd leg. Went home and away with my dad!
— Chris Kelly (@chriskelly1985) March 26, 2020
If only woodgate hadn’t got injured? He had him in the picket 1st leg! ???? #nufc
— Chris Currie (@Wig82) March 26, 2020
What do we think?
Drogba scored 32 goals that season and then moved to Chelsea in the summer, but he denied the Toon a European Cup final appearance, and judging by the replies to this tweet, that still hurts.
Was Drogba unplayable that night?
Yes
No
Since then, Newcastle have been in the Europa League/UEFA Cup three times once in the 2004/05 season then in 2006/07 season and then again during the 2012/13 season – where they reached the quarter-finals but were knocked out by Benfica.
This was the beginning of the end for Sir Bobby Robson as well as four matches into the following season the board sacked him – so overall, this night in Marseille was not good for the fans or the club.