Top 5 - Favourite Chelsea Players (No. 1)

1) Gianfranco Zola

If I'm honest with myself, this is the moment I've been waiting for. Don't get me wrong, I love the previous 4 players I've highlighted but all of them pail in comparison to the little Sardinian.

I guess in many ways he's the player I'd always wanted to be. Diminutive in stature, such as I, I'm able to contrive some comparison between us, almost as if to say that with the right training and opportunity I could have been as good as him.

Ridiculous I know but surely that's what idolisation is, being able to live vicariously through that person in order to achieve a heightened perception of yourself?

From the moment Zola arrived in the Premier League, his skill, trickery and control mesmerised fans and opposition players alike. Watching him play, there would be little moments when he'd do something incredible, often a little flick or piece of instant control, not highlighted on Match of the Day but enough to make you grin and nod knowingly at the person next to you.

There are so many more significant moments too. The goal against Man United when he made their whole defence look like they were standing still, the back-heeled flick from a corner against Norwich in the FA Cup, scoring the winner in the Cup-Winners-Cup Final 17 seconds after coming off the bench and, perhaps my favourite, scoring against Wimbledon in the FA Cup semi-final at Highbury with a deft turn to bamboozle the defender.

My Dad (who having seen the likes of Osgood et al in the 70's still thinks Zola's Chelsea's greatest ever player) and I were lucky enough to have tickets to his tribute match at Stamford Bridge (not having been with Chelsea for ten years it couldn't be called a testimonial). It was the pre-season after he'd left to join Cagliary, the club he'd always said he wanted to finish his career with, and although he only played for the last half an hour, he was still the most talented player on the pitch.

At the end of the game he took a solitary lap of honour around the pitch receiving a standing ovation as he went. It was really quite an emotional moment and as he disappeared down the tunnel I could feel a very significant lump forming in my throat. We knew that we'd never see the likes of him again, mercurial yet so likeable and with an exemplarary attitude to the game. I merely turned to my Dad amongst the applause to say, "He's gone."