THE THURSDAY INTERVIEW: MICHAEL ESSIEN
Plenty have had their say on Michael Essien over the past fortnight, from team-mates to Guus Hiddink, from outside commentators to fans who cheered the player's return. Now Chelseafc.com gives the man himself the chance to say a few words.
Michael Essien famously prefers to let his football do the talking. With that in mind, the player who is as quiet and unassuming as anyone you could find in the dressing room of a world-renowned football club, has in the last two games performed the on-pitch equivalent of climbing onto the rooftops with a megaphone and bellowing 'I'm back' to anyone within earshot.
By scoring game-changing goals and adding a dynamism and strength to Chelsea's play, one man's return appears to have re-energised hopes for the 10 weeks ahead.
It is reminiscent of the boost given to Chelsea by Gustavo Poyet's return from a cruciate injury 11 years earlier. That was also just in time for a European match and he too scored to level at 1-1 when the team looked to be descending toward elimination.
That year we went on to win the European competition we were in (the Cup Winners' Cup). It's a nice thought.
The two goals in the last two games have been one of the less-expected benefits of being Essien-equipped once more.
That he played the full 90 minutes of his first competitive game back, a reserve outing, and looked as energetic as anyone on the pitch in Sunday's win over Man City were likely to greeted by 'That's our Michael' nods of appreciation.
And that in his three first team games so far he has been asked to play three different positions simply shows Guus Hiddink is well-versed in the versatility of a player that has come under his wing.
Initially when given the green light to play again, Michael completed 60 minutes of a training ground practice match between teams of Chelsea reserve and youth players at Cobham. That was on the day of our home match against Juventus.
Five days later he took to the Villa Park pitch for a reserve fixture and played as a holding midfielder, scoring an 86th minute goal in a 4-3 defeat.
'I didn't know I was going to finish the game but as the game kept going, I felt strong and I said let me continue to the end,' Michael recalls from the match at the start of March.
'I am fit,' he adds with a smile.
Fit enough to persuade Hiddink, who sat in the stands for the whole match, to bring Michael on for the final 25 minutes of the Coventry FA Cup win five days later, again in an anchor role.
And then out of the blue came his deployment from the start as the widest, most forward player on the right of the team away to Juventus, with its dramatic consequence.
'It was quite strange, but I do a job for the team, it is not a big deal for me. They know my qualities and they know I could do it,' says the scorer of the first equaliser in the 2-2 draw in Turin.
'At first I thought Frank's shot was going to be a goal and then I saw that the ball was going to hit the crossbar so I tried to go for the rebound. I had to put it into the back of the net.
'I saw two defenders plus the goalkeeper there but I said let's go for it, you never know.
