Drogba 'learned a lot' from Lampard

Didier Drogba has singled out former Chelsea teammate Frank Lampard out as one of the biggest influences on his career.

Drogba played with Lampard for eight years at Stamford Bridge, which culminated in Champions League triumph in 2012.

The two set each other up on 36 occasions in the Premier League, still the highest combined figure for goals and assists between two players in the English top flight.

Speaking at a Yokohama fan event in Tokyo, the Ivorian was full of praise for his former teammate.

"There's one [player] that I'm going to put a bit more in front because most of my goals came from him, it's Frank Lampard," Drogba said.

"And also because every day after training we were staying on the pitch trying to practice, trying to create some exercises because the ones we did a few days ago were becoming too easy.

"So, we were trying to bring in new exercises and that's how we progressed and challenged each other to score goals, to create assists and for me I learned a lot from him."

Playing for Phoenix Rising in the USL Championship, the 40-year-old announced his retirement from football last week.