Drogba, who has 31 goals this season, created Joe Cole's first-half winner when he turned Agger, and crossed from the right. Yet Agger denied the striker caused him the biggest problems he has encountered since his £5.8million move from Brondby in January 2006.
'Every week we play against strikers like that; there are a lot of tough strikers in the Premiership,' he said. 'He is a strong guy, but I think we did OK. He didn't create that much.' Had he struggled with Drogba's pace for the goal? 'No. It was not just pace. I was there, so you can't say it was that.'
Agger did agree that Drogba, who admitted last year that 'sometimes I dive', goes down easily when tackled. 'Yes, I definitely do,' he said, 'but that's his style and that's the way he is.' He added he was reluctant to criticise the referee, Markus Merk, although he did imply that the official had favoured Drogba and Chelsea. 'It is easy to see from the outside,' he said in reply to whether he and Jamie Carragher had been given any breaks by the German referee.
Chelsea's last defeat this season was the 2-0 in the Premiership at Liverpool in January. That afternoon Jose Mourinho selected a defence that featured midfielder Michael Essien and full-back Paulo Ferreira in place of injured central defenders John Terry and Ricard Carvalho.
The Liverpool midfielder Mark Gonzalez, who played in the game, believes the Premiership champions were uncharacteristically fearful. 'They were quite scared playing in the first few minutes. That's when the first goal came. After that we were high in confidence, we pressed a lot and we were winning second balls. They didn't really exist in that match.'
Two years ago the clubs met at the same stage of the competition. After a goalless first leg at Stamford Bridge, the tie was won at Anfield by a fourth-minute Luis Garcia goal that Mourinho claims did not cross the line.
Terry agrees that the Anfield atmosphere on European nights will help Liverpool. 'When we walked out there for the semi-final in 2005 and heard the noise we took it in too much and it affected us. What we have to drill into everybody is that the crowd won't be playing, it's just us against Liverpool.'