By Stephen Tew (staff@latinospost.com) | First Posted: Jul 28, 2015 01:47 PM EDT

As Chelsea's latest pre-season match against Paris Saint-Germain came to end in a 1-1 draw the match would be decided by a penalty shoot out.

At this stage in the pre-season the shoot out didn't have the significance that it would if it were in April or May, but was perhaps most notable for Chelsea as it allowed new signing Radamel Falcao the opportunity to place the ball in the net for the first time in a Chelsea shirt.

The recently maligned Falcao is looking to restart his career with the Premier League champions after sustaining a cruciate ligament injury in January 2014.

After missing last year's World Cup in Brazil and struggling throughout last season with Manchester United, Falcao will hope his latest move to London will help him reproduce the devastating goal scoring form that he showed at Porto and Atletico Madrid in previous seasons.

Confidently Falcao stroked his penalty into the corner and was visibly relieved to see his goal scoring instincts from 12 yards rewarded with his first Chelsea goal.

Chelsea fans, as well as the player himself, will be hoping that this is a sign of things to come, with the Colombian able to power the Blues to domestic and international success.

If he is to do so, however, he will need to overcome something perhaps even more damaging than his previous injury, something far removed from the events on the Stamford Bridge pitch. Something supernatural.

When the Chelsea 2015/16 squad numbers were announced on July 13th it was revealed that Falcao would play in the number nine shirt - the much feared number nine, which in the eyes of many Chelsea fans holds a curse over all its wearers.

The origins of this so-called curse began in 1999 when Chris Sutton was signed by Chelsea for £10 million after starring for previous club Blackburn Rovers.

Sutton lasted one season at Stamford Bridge and having scored only once for Chelsea was sold the following summer.

Four years on and any thoughts of a curse were undone by Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's heroics as Chelsea's number nine since Sutton's departure

However, the curse will show itself again in 2004 as Dutch league record-breaking striker Mateja Kezman would crash and burn on his arrival in London.

Kezman managed just seven goals in 40 appearances for Chelsea and, despite his fondness for the club, his spell at Chelsea seemed to begin the end of his career. After one season he was gone.

Next came Argentine legend Hernam Crespo, who despite scoring ten times for a Chelsea side that retained the league title in 2005/06, is still considered by many as a shadow of the player he was at previous clubs. He too would last just one season.

Then came a series of strange "number nines" central defender Khalid Boulharouz and midfielder Steve Sidwell. Neither will be remembered very much by Chelsea fans after they both endured one season of not playing very much, disappointing when taking the field and then they were loaned out and eventually sold.

Then it was the turn of Argentine youngster Franco Di Santo, who having looked promising for Chelsea never actually scored for the Blues and was another who fairly quickly saw the exit door at Stamford Bridge.

Then we come to the most recent and painful number nine in Chelsea history. Fernando Torres.

Torres joined Chelsea for a staggering £50 million after being prolific for Liverpool for several years. From his first match, however, the evidence was clear- Torres was not the same player he was at Liverpool.

Torres struggled with his first touch, had lost some of his deadly pace and looked lost at times on the pitch. His predatory finishing appeared to have left him and despite the constant encouragement from the Chelsea fans, he too went the way of the disappointing signing, and was ushered quietly towards the Chelsea exit door.

So as Falcao strode away relieved from his penalty conversion against PSG, he and Chelsea fans everywhere will be hoping that the curse of the number nine shirt at Chelsea is finally put to bed.

There is a great weight of expectation on Falcao to deliver next season from Chelsea and Colombia fans, but perhaps hope from football fans also that El Tigre can once again be the striker that struck fear into the hearts of defenders everywhere and get back to being what former striker Crespo described as: "the best of the human players."

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