Galatasaray vs Chelsea: Welcome to H-E-1-1

One. There's one striker.

With all the buildup focusing on Mourinho's comments about Eto'o's age Chelsea facing Champions League hero Didier Drogba, in well, the Champions League -- everyone forgot that formerly special, formerly happy little horse might have a trick up his sleeve. Despite his super secret conversation in a packed press room regarding his lack of strikers, Mourinho only went and found himself one.

Samuel Eto'o was widely expected to start with his preferred non-injured status, however, it was Fernando Torres who got his name on the finely printed teamsheet and lineup against the man he replaced. The same Fernando Torres who began 2014 with a couple of cheeky away goals and an injury which had him sidelined more or less until his re-emergence in 'hell' -- like a freckled phoenix. It took just 9 minutes to assure Mourinho that he does in fact have a striker on his hands after all. It was Torres' 6th goal in his last 5 CL starts -- and has taken his goal tally in the CL beyond what he ever managed for Liverpool. This, of course, will give them more reasons to burn any remaining shirts they have lying around.

He might be a little late to the party, but Ramires thought he'd finally see what this comedy fake moustache fad was all about. Just why he thought he'd give it a whirl in the CL, only he really knows. It might just be something he should think about leaving behind in Turkey. It's over Ramires. It's over.

A dominant first half from Chelsea of course only means one thing -- sloppy seconds. Although Chelsea have often found themselves in need of a massive kick up the arse at the half to get them going, it was definitely the reverse today. Billy McCulloch may have got to take care of the pre-match talk -- but was half time left to the tea lady?

Going into the match, a 1-1 draw away from Stamford Bridge would have seemed a decent result. And by in large it is. But when Chelsea were so dominate in the first half and failed to really kill it off, it takes the shine off the party, at least for those of us not completely off our faces in Instanbul. It wouldn't be Chelsea though if they didn't make things as hard for themselves as humanly possible.

What can anyone say about Didier Drogba? A truly glorious human being. He made a nuisance of himself. He was big and strong and comedically fell over in the box. He enjoyed a little shirt pulling action with Ivanovic. And because he didn't score, he was everything that I hoped he would be. Jealous of all the fun and games, Roberto Mancini thought he'd ruin the Chelsea/Mourinho/Drogba love-in by letting Drogba go off with 10 mins to go and bring on youngster, 30 year old Umut Bulut, in his place.

Although a whole handful of cards were given out from time-wasting to Terry holding his balls, mysteriously Felipe Melo avoided a booking. I'm prepared to give the referee the benefit of the doubt in that he just didn't carry enough with him on the day. It is the only logical explanation for a card being shown to Melo. He easily could have been booked as many times as everyone else combined, but still seems to be eligible for the next leg. Aside from the kicky theme-song, dodgy refereeing is a staple of European football.

It might feel a bit like a loss or a missed opportunity, but  it's simple maths -- it's a draw you silly sods. A draw with an away goal no less. And with each of the other 3 English teams in the CL all losing 2-0, Chelsea were the only one to score. Huzzah. It may just be Chelsea through to the next round and left flying England's flag in Europe. Again. That mantle has worked out alright for Chelsea in the past couple of seasons …

jb x

PS For the travelling support - try not to spend too much time in purgatory before returning from 'hell'. And next time, don't leave me behind! So selfish.

PPS Title was far too clever for me to have thought up - thank you for the ability to plagarise from Twtitter … and to Robert Rea