Bon anniversaire Didier Drogba - 32 years old today!

You are certainly carrying the years well if the evidence of the last 12 months is anything to go by.

Since his Chelsea career took an upturn with a chronic knee problem fully behind him and the arrival of Guus Hiddink last February, our centre-forward has scored a prolific 36 goals in just 52 appearances.

As he spearheads the continuing assault on the three most coveted trophies, Didier Drogba, it seems, is 32 years old going on 22.

That suggestion makes him chuckle as he sits down at Cobham to discuss the passing years with the Official Chelsea Website.

'I still have the same passion for the game,' he agrees. 'I still feel hungry and I am still chasing medals.

'I feel really good you know. As I have said in the past it depends on the injuries you get and this season I can say that I am lucky, or I can say that the few months that I took out last year to get my knee well are now paying off.'

It is perhaps an over-simplification of recent Chelsea history to claim that Didier was out-of-favour under Hiddink's predecessor Luiz Felipe Scolari and has since been reborn.

In reality he was often simply out-of-action in the early months of Scolari in charge due to injury or suspension, and he was taking time to recover his best form and match fitness when he did return in the approach to Christmas. However in the closing games of the Brazilian's stewardship as results dropped away, Didier did find himself starting on the bench.

There was no such problem under Hiddink and now in Carlo Ancelotti he has a manager who clearly has him as one of the first on the team sheet. He is also a manager who is not surprised to see his principal striker doing the business in his early 30s.

'When a player is 30 to 33-years-old he is not old, he is a player in the middle of his career,' the Italian said recently.

'Maybe 20 years ago when I finished my career, at 33 years I was an old player but now the physical training sessions have improved and there is more injury prevention and so the career of a player is more prolonged,' Ancelotti added.

'It is true,' reckons Didier, 'but at the same time your lifestyle is only as important as your mental approach to the game. If you put in your head that you are 32 and you are old it is going to be difficult. I still feel like a kid when I am on the pitch so sometimes he [Ancelotti] has to pull me back.'

A hint of the physical care that goes into maintaining peak working order is the massage Didier undergoes after training and prior to this interview. It lasts nearly as long as a football match - with extra-time added! On the Cobham pitches too with no midweek fixture this week there have been lengthy preparations.

'There is not really a big difference in the way Carlo Ancelotti manages me compared with past managers,' Didier says. 'They all know my strengths and my weakness and they all give me help to improve those, but especially now they put everything around me that I need to score goals or to be important for the team. That is what really makes me feel happy.'

Should Chelsea accumulate enough points in our final 10 league matches to take the title for a third time in the six seasons Didier has been at the club, we can speculate that it might be a victory that makes him happy like never before.

In his autobiography he admits to 'not taking any real pleasure' from the first championship win. His 10 league goal contribution in 2004/05 is not to be sneezed at but a hernia operation midway through was a hindrance and he started just 18 of the games. He felt peripheral.

The second title triumph involved a battle to win over many of his own supporters and at 12 goals from 20 starts and nine sub appearances, the statistics remained similar.

The next season Drogba's Chelsea career exploded amid a hail of goals and 'best striker in the world' plaudits, even if the status of champion was lost.

In reaching 2010, Chelsea and Didier have been through a lot together and there is no doubting now he is a main man (he already has 19 league goals this campaign), but for the time being he won't be drawn on what a new Premier League title would mean.

'We are far from that,' he rightly cautions. 'We have lot of games coming and big games too so I don't want to bring bad luck by talking about if we win, but this season so far has been really good for me.

'Even when I came back from the African Nations Cup it was good. I really thought that I was going to be tired and it was going to be difficult for me to come back. It was but for a different reason - because Ivory Coast had been knocked out of the competition - but it was also good to be back at Chelsea and scoring again straightaway.'

For Ivory Coast there is the chance to make up for January's disappointment when the World Cup begins in the summer. Didier, Salomon Kalou and their compatriots will have a new coach for South Africa and never one to be scared of dual responsibility, Hiddink has, according to some reports, agreed to take temporary control of the Elephants. The new Turkey boss is free to do so due to Turkey's failure to qualify.

'The Ivory Coast FA asked me for his number, like they asked for the number of Carlo, of Jose Mourinho, of a few managers,' Drogba explains. 'Guus was a big success here at Chelsea.'

The Dutchman was also one of a list of Chelsea managers, Ancelotti included, who have described Drogba as 'a leader' and an important aid to their stewardship of the team.

'You can be a leader on the pitch, you can be a leader in the dressing room,' the player says.

'There are different kinds of leadership and maybe I do speak when I feel it is important to. When you speak, after that you have to go out on the pitch and show and prove it. That is how people respect you and I think that is how you become a leader.

'When you speak and then you act, that is what gives you more courage and credibility.

'When I feel it I do it but the good thing is I am not the only one. When I speak, JT or Lamps or Bally or other players are really going in the same direction. That is why sometimes when we have a difficult first half we come back and we try to be stronger.'

That strength is bound to be tested in the coming months as Didier and his team-mates hunt domestic league and cup honours, and the one type of club honour that has so far eluded him - a European trophy. He has been as close as a Uefa Cup finalist with Marseille and of course a Champions League runner-up with Chelsea.

'It is in here,' he says solemnly with hand on chest. 'As long as I play at a high level it will always be my ambition. I think all players dream about it and there are no reasons why it shouldn't happen.'

If it does happen for Didier as early as this coming May, he can call it the best late 32^nd birthday present he could possibly give himself.