Didier Drogba has officially announced his retirement from professional football.After a short stint with Phoenix Rising - where he is also the owner - the Ivorian legend has called it a day at the age of 40.Drogba will go down as one of the greatest ever Premier League strikers after his devastating first spell with Chelsea.Under the rule of Jose Mourinho, he was simply unstoppable.Drogba won four Premier League titles with the Blues, four FA Cups and three League Cups.However, the greatest night of his career will always be in 2012, when his shootout-winning penalty secured Chelsea their first ever Champions League.He had also scored the equaliser in normal time after Thomas Muller's late opening goal.It was a heart-breaking night for Bayern Munich in their own stadium, but that hasn't stopped them sending Drogba a classy message after learning of his retirement.

BAYERN'S TWEET

The Bavarian club posted: "You broke our hearts once but we still want to congratulate you on a superb career. All the best for the future."

You have to hand it to the Bundesliga champions. You can read Drogba's retirement post below.

DROGBA'S RETIREMENT POST

Drogba's former partner-in-crime Frank Lampard was full of praise for the Ivorian when speaking about his retirement from the game.

"I get asked a lot about who are the greatest players you played with ," said Lampard.

"One retired relatively recently in John Terry, and the other is Didier Drogba. He is the most incredible player.

"He won Chelsea countless titles, finals and semi-finals. He always turned up on the big occasion. He should be so proud of his career."

Lampard ended his praise for Drogba in fitting fashion, saying: "He is an absolute monster in the dressing room, he is a friend, unselfish, humble, tough - I could speak all day about Didier Drogba."