Now in MLS, Drogba still hates losing to Arsenal

In the battle between North America and North London, the Gunners came out on top with goals from Joel Campbell and Chuba Akpom.

Didier Drogba, a known nemesis to Gunners' fans worldwide, garnered his reputation after making a habit of saving his best goal-scoring performances against Wenger's men. Thursday, he got the goal the MLS side deserved, and it could be argued they could have had more with a little more care in their finishing.

His goal in the All Star Game was Drogba's 16th all-time against Arsenal. Despite admitting he was happy to score against his former foes, and former teammate Petr Cech, he also said losing the game left him with a bitter taste in his mouth.

"I want to help my team to win games. And I always say the goal that I score, if we lose, for me it doesn't count," Drogba said afterward.

"For me, it's for fun because I scored against Petr [Cech], but the result matters more than my goal or my own performance. It's a bit disappointing to have lost this game in the last minute.

"I hate losing. So for fun, I will have gun with Petr because I scored. But he already killed me and said, 'This time I give you the goal.' But apart from that, no, the result I'm not happy with."

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger reacted during postgame to seeing the Ivory Coast attacker playing against him again.

"He has always harmed us, and he continues. He's a winner and I think that he'll be like that until the end of his life," Wenger said of the 38-year-old Drogba. "At halftime, I was thinking 'He's still haunting us, even in the United States!'"

Red Bulls midfielder Sacha Kljestan got the play started on Drogba's lone tally. After intercepting an Arsenal pass and finding Giovani dos Santos with a pass on the left side, the Galaxy attacker put the ball square on Drogba's feet — his first attempt was denied by Cech, the second was cleared by a defender, he ultimately found the bottom right corner of the net with his third attempt.

Wenger again shared his thoughts on the goal, one of which was classic Drogba, he said.

"Drogba is a typical poacher of a goal. He can do that in the box," he said. "When I see him in the box and fighting with young defenders I always think that now there is a danger there because you know he will get the upper hand and score you a goal and that's what he did."

It was Drogba's 16th goal in 17 career matches against Arsenal, and he said after scoring that many, it's no longer a matter of luck.

"I want to say I'm lucky, but when you score 16 goals against them, it's not luck anymore."