This is an interesting story, amid all the waffle along the lines of ‘we’re gonna beat you’, ‘they are afraid of us’ and ‘we are playing the best football’. Ahead of Wednesday night’s Champions League final, the loveable Didier Drogba has revealed that he’s been asked by several referees not to dive this season. Sky Sports reports that the Ivorian wouldn’t be surprised if Lubos Michel adopts the same approach ahead of the match in Moscow, something that rankles with someone who has obviously only ever played fair.

“Since I had the misfortune to say that I sometimes dived, because people pushed me and not because of cheating, I get the feeling that people take me for a cheat,” said Drogba.

The misfortune? Surely you mean stupidity Didier?

“Referees in the Premier League as well as the Champions League come to see me before the matches to tell me ‘today, we don’t dive, eh’?

“Even though I tell them I’m a footballer, not a swimmer, I don’t think they listen to me.”

It’s hard to imagine that arbiters take the same tack with any Manchester United player, despite Cristiano Ronaldo being fond of dropping to the floor as if he’s been shot, sometimes at the merest hint of contact. Is it right that the men in black single out Drogba for a quiet word before the match, or is he the biggest cheat since Diego Maradona?