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By Martin Graham | 19th Apr 2023
Frank Lampard says his side put up a good fight despite their 2-0 defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
Having suffered a 2-0 defeat in the first leg in Spain, here were faint hopes about a comeback and the Chelsea boss put out a rather questionable lineup with lots of midfielders.
That lineup proved to be inspiring, for some time, as Chelsea were the better side in the opening hour, but only lacked a goalscorer to convert their chances.
In the end, Lampard and his side rued their missed chances, with Rodrygo bagging a brace after defensive miscommunication, in a result that sent the Blues out of the Champions League and condemned them to yet another defeat.
The Chelsea boss hails his side for doing their best and says they only needed to finish off their chances.
Lampard pleased with ‘improved’ Chelsea despite defeat
“We played really well for 60 minutes,” said Lampard.
“I picked a team that was the most form team individually, and the fittest team in terms of what this game was going to ask of us, and they showed they could compete with Real Madrid.”
“Once they got the goal, to make it 3-0 on aggregate, then of course we had to make some changes to go and chase the tie, and maybe how you saw the game pan out from there was possibly expected, but for 60 minutes or so I thought we were really good.”
“Having said that, at this level when you create some really good chances as we did, then you simply have to take them.”
“I’m not one for praising performances too much when we’ve lost, but when you consider where we are and where we’ve been, there were some positives to take for sure.”
“We had big energy, big organisation in the team, caused Real Madrid a lot of problems. The only thing that was missing from our game was a goal. Our game was exactly how I wanted it, and one goal or two goals in that 60 minutes changes the face of the tie. We didn’t do that and they’re so clinical, you saw the result.”
Away from another disappointing defeat, Chelsea no longer have anything to play for this season but Lampard says the club must continue to look forward.
“The next step is day off tomorrow, back to work Thursday, get working towards Brentford. People will make a lot about this season for Chelsea because we’ve had so much success.”
“The reality is this club is going to be back. It will take work and a bit of process, and the fans appreciated the performance today. We have to latch on to that and get results and performances until the end of the season, and then go again next year.”
Martin Graham is an MFF sports writer
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