Why Didier Drogba, Salomon Kalou and Craig Bellamy deserve our respect

Two former Chelsea attackers and a current Liverpool striker regularly attract criticism on the pitch, but off it should be a different matter, writes Nigel Owen.

Didier Drogba has often been accused of play-acting in his eight seasons at Chelsea, with both his diving and his diva-like histrionics.

But after he had struck the winning penalty, having earlier saved what was a virtually lost cause for his team, we saw the real Drogba come through.

A man with class, decorum and a thought for others. He consoled his former teammate Arjen Robben, and then to the man on whose shoulders most guilt will rest, Bastian Schweinsteiger. These were not a quick handshake, a pat on the head and "Unlucky mate, well played."

These were genuine sympathetic feelings and affection from a man who has experienced the feeling that you may have cost your team the biggest prize in club football, and understood what his opponents were going through.

He then joined his teammates as they climbed up through the inside of the Allianz Arena to the second tier to receive the trophy. Even at that point he remained level headed and, unlike other Chelsea players, behaved with class and decorum, and made a concerted effort to go over and properly thank Roman Abramovich and congratulate him on finally achieving his dream for the club.

All the other players shook hands with the club's owner on their way up, but Drogba stepped away from the posturing to spend a more than a fleeting moment with the man who made it all possible.

And when he did finally get his hands on the Champions League trophy, there was no selfishness of wanting to be front and centre of the pictures, no slogan on his t-shirt, no posturing with his shirt off in front of the bigwigs of UEFA, no turning his shirt back to front (was Ross Turnbull worried people wouldn't know who he was?).

All the other players had their photographs taken with the trophy, holding it, kissing it. When it was finally Drogba's turn, he was keener to share his moment with the fans, racing over to the Chelsea end to share in the euphoria.

Drogba is not the only footballer to have a very different off pitch personality. Another favourite villain of opponent teams, Craig Bellamy, is another whose persona changes when within the confines of the football pitch.

In the heat of battle he's had plenty of run-ins with players, managers and fans, but off the pitch he is softly spoken, laid back, and willing to help out his friends, knowing that, but for football, he may have been another Welsh kid stuck on a council estate with few prospects.

While his confrontational antics got plenty of headlines, his visits to see children in hospital, taking a friend in long-term to help wean him off heroin, and his mentoring of younger players finding their way in the game, again able to count on his own experiences and, as he will openly admit, mistakes.

Something else both these footballers have in common though is their philanthropic nature. Not just giving a portion of their considerable income away to charity to be seen to be doing the right thing, but actually really getting involved with the projects themselves.

In 2007 Drogba was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador by the UN, but this wasn't enough for Saturday's match winner. The Didier Drogba Foundation was started in 2007 by Drogba donating £3m himself, with the aim to build a hospital in Abidjan, in his native Ivory Coast. The war in Ivory Coast has delayed the project and required further funding, but it is still expected to be completed

. Drogba's project prompted his club and international teammate, Salomon Kalou to set up a foundation in his name too, with the aim to raise money for schools and clinics, the first being a clinic for people with kidney and stomach disorders - doubling the number of places for dialysis in Ivory Coast.

Craig Bellamy's work is perhaps even more admirable, as his work is not linked to a war torn homeland or an underprivileged background, taking himself out of his comfort zone into an area known only for its dangers, and one his employer at the time, Liverpool, advised him not to visit.

His inspiration came from visiting two friends working in Sierra Leone - not an obvious holiday destination for a Premiership footballer.

He saw an opportunity to help people less fortunate than himself and has since put £1.25m into his West African academy, at which he spends at least a fortnight every summer.

The Academy, which is also supported by Unicef, is attended by over 1,500 boys a year, aged from 11 to 14, who play football every day, but also receive an education they otherwise wouldn't get, and ensures they become involved in their communities as well as reiterating strong messages regarding the dangers of HIV/Aids in Africa.

If the boys do not fulfil their off field responsibilities, they do not get to play on the field, resulting in very low truancy rates, and the development of smaller projects for girls and disabled children within the Academy.

Some footballers are as shallow as the image you see on the pitch on your television screen, but don't be quite so quick to judge the characters you see on the pitch without understanding what you don't see when the final whistle blows. Drogba, Kalou and Bellamy are by no means they only players helping to make a difference in the wider world.