Heaping praise on Lampard, the current Chelsea manager said his predecessor had "an amazing record in the group stage" of the competition.
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Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has praised Frank Lampard for laying the “foundations” in helping Chelsea reach this season’s Champions League final. Tuchel replaced Lampard at Stamford Bridge in January and his impact has been swift and efficient. The German manager has played a big role in helping Chelsea sit third in the Premier League and reach the FA Cup final. But his biggest achievement was helping the Blues qualify for the Champions League final at the expense of an all-conquering Real Madrid in the semifinals.
On May 29, Chelsea play Manchester City in an all-England final in Europe’s premier cup competition. Speaking ahead of their match against Arsenal on Wednesday, Tuchel gave due credit to his predecessor. “You can only arrive in a Champions League final if you make it through the group stage and Frank had an amazing record in the group stage,” said Tuchel.
“This lays the foundations for getting to the final and I will never forget this. From the first day when I came in here, I was aware that Frank created his own legacy at Chelsea and it is well deserved. When I came in it was halfway through the season and it was about continuing the job he had done.”
“He is one of the big, big players and the key figures of this club and when you think about Chelsea you think about Frank Lampard. One or two days after I arrived he sent me a message and wished me all the best – that was very nice to receive and it was very polite. I was very happy to get that message.”
The final of the Champions League is scheduled to take place at the Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul. But due to the surge in coronavirus cases in Turkey, it has been added to the UK’s ‘red list’ of countries.
When asked if he had a preference where the match was played, Tuchel replied, “No, absolutely not. The preference is to play it and to arrive wherever we need to arrive.”
“The good thing for me is we have top guys on the subject, in talks with UEFA and this is good for me because they will inform us whatever it is.”
