After the match, Frank Lampard rued the missed chances despite being content with the team’s overall performance.
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Chelsea exited Champions League with a disappointing 2-0 loss to Real Madrid in the second leg of the quarter-finals. The Spanish giants won both legs by the same scoreline to register a comfortable 4-0 aggregate victory. The Blues found it difficult to match the level of Real Madrid in the first leg in Spain, however, they raised their game considerably in the reverse leg. Despite doing many things right, Chelsea were not able to convert their chances, as they left the competition in the last-eight stage.
After the match, Frank Lampard rued the missed chances despite being content with the team’s overall performance. “We played really well for 60 minutes, Lampard was quoted as saying by their club’s website. “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.
He added: “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.”
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There was also a controversial moment at the start of the second half when Real Madrid Eder Militao brought down Chelsea’s Trevoh Chalobah. With the Real defender already on a yellow card, Lampard was of the opinion that he should have received a second booking. “Militao for me was a second yellow card. At this level we see yellow cards given a lot,” he explained.
“That one in the attacking final third with our player beyond their centre-back, and gets brought down, normally that’s a yellow card, which means red, which means half-an-hour of here we go. That is what we had to do in the Bernabeu, maybe that’s what they would have had to have done here, but it didn’t happen.”
Frank Lampard now wants his players to take the positives from this game and maintain that standard in the remaining games of the season. “We’ve played against world-class opposition tonight and we’ve been the better side for 60 minutes or so. For me, it’s important now that we don’t allow that standard to drop. That’s the one message for us to relay in-house once the dust settles on this game,” he elaborated.
“I’ve been here two weeks now and I’m really hungry to do my best for this club, for my club, and I certainly won’t be letting anyone take their foot off. This is a club that’s used to going further in this competition and tonight, it wasn’t our night. But it’s important the lads learn from this and understand what it’s like and what’s needed at this level.”
