Frank Lampard says Roman Abramovich changed his life — so the Chelsea owner does NOT owe him anything.
Yet Stamford Bridge’s under-pressure gaffer believes he has done well enough to avoid becoming the latest managerial casualty of the billionaire’s 18-season reign.
Lampard said: “It is his prerogative. When he came to Chelsea, it made my career because maybe I would have gone on elsewhere, or whatever would have happened in my personal career.
“But fortunately I was at a club that had an owner that changed the face of it and changed my life.
“But I don’t think that should give me any head start and the job I did last year, in one year, to get us to fourth was a huge positive because of the constraints.
Frank Lampard believes his developing Chelsea squad lacks the killer instinct of the Premier League’s serial winners.
Timo Werner broke his 12-game goal drought as the Blues cruised past League Two Morecambe 4-0 in Sunday’s FA Cup third-round clash at Stamford Bridge.
Mason Mount, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Kai Havertz were also on target in a facile Chelsea victory, where boss Lampard fielded a potent line-up to boost confidence.
Lampard has come under pressure after four defeats in six Premier League matches, but believes he knows the route forward for his Stamford Bridge men.
“What we can’t ask the youth of this squad sometimes is to be absolutely consistent and be killers like other players in the league are in terms of the numbers they consistently produce,” said Lampard.
“That will come for our lads but at the moment their contributions are good.
“I mean killers in the best possible terms and I hope people know what I mean.
“We have a lot of young players with a lot of potential, who are coming through and of a young age.
“But the players at the top of the Premier League are scoring week on week and winning year on year, and at the ages of 27, 28, and are very established and they produce week on week, with big numbers.
“Players at that stage expect to be producing at those sorts of levels.
“So for us there’s work to be done to get to the levels where hopefully we can jump to challenge those teams.
“I’m pleased for Timo to score because strikers want to score goals, he’s had a lot of near misses in that time.
“He’d been getting into positions to score goals but they hadn’t been going in for him.
“So I was pleased to play him today and for him to get confidence and get a goal. He gets his goal and that’s important.
“With him and Kai coming into the Premier League, some of the greatest Premier League players have needed time to settle to the league. And it’s a nice little step for both of them.”
Red Bull Leipzig CEO Oliver Mintzlaff has revealed the club may have to sell key players yet again if it makes sense financially.
Chelsea have reportedly joined the race to sign Dayot Upamecano, who has heavily been linked with a move away due to his £40million release clause.
Commenting on potentially having to sell players, Mintzlaff told Sport BILD: “We have a squad that is very broad in terms of quality. So we will sell top performers again if it makes financial sense and we can cope with it from a sporting point of view.
“When I think of [Timo] Werner, [Matheus] Cunha, [Naby] Keita or [Diego] Demme, we’ve already made a lot of money and still made progress in terms of the sporting side.
“Overall, we have invested a lot in our team, no question about that. But look: the current squad had a market value of less than €250million (£225m) when the individual players made their debut.
“And if we now take the current market value, we are at around €550m (£495m). You have to take this plus of over €300m (£270m) into account when you talk about investments. We are creating value with our path.”
Chelsea and Arsenal with two clubs are said to be keen for one of the most highly-rated defenders in Europe Upamecano.
The Daily Mail have stated that the Blues are the latest club to try and sign him, with Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Man Utd and Liverpool all interested.
Former Manchester United striker Dimitar Berbatov believes the club should consider signing Sergio Ramos from Real Madrid.
The experienced Spain international sees his contract with the Spanish giants expire at the end of the season and a move to the Premier League has been touted.
Manchester City are reportedly interested in adding the experienced defender to their backline.
Now 34, the former Sevilla man is in the twilight years of his career but Berbatov believes he still has a lot to offer.
“I have read the reports about Sergio Ramos and there is a lot of speculation about his future. He could bring a lot of experience and steel to any team,” he told Betfair as cited by Manchester Evening News.
“Although he is 34, he is still a top player and United could do a lot worse. If he is available I can see a lot of teams interested in signing him.
“At his age of course Real Madrid are reluctant to offer him a long contract. Maybe they are arguing about money because it always comes down to money, but both sides should think long and hard about it because the grass isn’t always greener.
“I have no doubts that players would love to join United but January is a tough time to move. Nemanja Vidic, Patrice Evra and Bruno Fernandes did it, and turned out to be great signings, but the same was not true for others who joined at this time of year.”
Lionel Messi was once again the architect of Barcelona’s resounding victory over Granada on Saturday, beating their opponents 4-0.
The Argentina international scored twice, while Antoine Griezmann equally registered a brace to move Barcelona moved third in La Liga, extending their unbeaten run to eight games.
Villarreal overtook Barcelona on Friday with their 4-0 evisceration of Celta Vigo, but the Blaugrana regained third spot with their win to come within four points of league leaders Atletico Madrid.
Barcelona took the lead in the 12th minute through Antoine Griezmann. Roberto Soldado mishit an attempted clearance and the ball fell to the French striker in the area, who took a touch before unleashing a smart finish to score. There was questions of offside but the referee ruled it legal.
Griezmann was heavily involved in Barcelona’s second, carrying play forward before finding Lionel Messi. The Argentine then steadied himself before letting rip with a curled effort that nestled in the back of the net.
Messi was on-song and thriving in the Andalusian night, adding his second and the Blaugrana’s third shortly before half-time. This time it was a superb free-kick, driven low and hard to the left side and wrong footing the Granada goalkeeper.
Griezmann got a second shortly after the hour mark, displaying a moment of real confidence and class. He picked Ousmane Dembele‘s gentle, lifted ball out of the air before turning and slotting home with a quality finish to make it 4-0 to the Catalans and guarantee the three points.
Former Spurs striker Darren Bent has insisted Frank Lampard must be sacked if Chelsea loses to Morecambe in the FA Cup.
Speaking on talkSPORT, he said: “If Chelsea get beat to Morecambe, Frank Lampard has to go,
“You can’t get beat by Morecambe. MORECAMBE! If they get beat, he will have to go.
“Timo Werner, Kai Havertz… Lampard has spent all this money on all these players and they still get beat by Morecambe, at home?
There would be no excuse for Chelsea, because whatever team they decide to put out it’s going to be strong.
“Just take the centre-forward, for example – if Olivier Giroud doesn’t play, Tammy Abraham will play, and if Abraham doesn’t play, Werner will play.
“They’ve got Christian Pulisic, they’ve got Hakim Ziyech – they’ve got all these players! If it happens, it would be THE biggest FA Cup upset in history!”
Christine Lampard has announced she is pregnant with her second child with Chelsea manager Frank Lampard, who she married in 2015.
Loose Women panellist Christine took to Instagram to announce that she and her husband have another baby on the way.
The Chelsea boss and 42-year-old Christine Lampard got married in 2015.
Lampard’s wife gave birth to their first child named Patricia Charlotte in honour of Lampard’s late mother Pat in 2018.
In view of her 552,000 followers, she shared a picture of herself beaming for the camera as she proudly cradled her growing bump.
She wrote: “A new year and a new baby on the way for the Lampards! It’s been a strange and worrying time to be pregnant but we’re hoping and praying that cuddles from family and friends are not too far off.
“Sending all my love to everyone going through pregnancy during this crazy time.”
A close friend of Christine said, via Belfast Telegraph, that: “They have kept the news quiet and just told family and close friends. Frank’s two daughters, Luna and Isla, were thrilled to learn they would be becoming big sisters again. Christine is absolutely glowing and has been buying lots of new bits for the tot. After such a hard 2020 for everyone this feels like such a lift for the family. They are overjoyed. It’s a truly wonderful time.”
Many of the star’s fans rushed to the comments section to congratulate the pair.
The couple chose not to find out their baby’s gender before the birth.
She said during her pregnancy: “I’m totally old-fashioned. We obviously don’t care whether it’s a boy or a girl so I think let’s find out on the day.”
Frank also has daughters, Luna, 11, and Isla, 9, with his former partner Elen Rivas.
The presenter previously said having a baby was not something she had thought about before.
Erling Haaland scored twice for Borussia Dortmund to deny RB Leipzig top spot in the Bundesliga with a 3-1 win.
The young striker recorded his 11th and 12 Bundesliga goals of the season after a goal from Jadon Sancho in the 55th minute of the match.
Leipzig was hoping to take advantage of Bayern Munich’s 3-2 loss at Borussia Moenchengladbach on Friday but remain a point behind the league leaders after slumping to their first home defeat of the season.
They both began at a frenetic pace, each team surging forward in numbers when they had the ball and sprinting back to recover when not in possession.
It made for a breathless spectacle, but goalscoring chances were few and far between as the sides cancelled each other out.
Jadon Sancho followed up his first league goal of the season against Wolfsburg last weekend with the opener in the 55th minute. Marco Reus set up Sancho with his heel and the England forward fired inside the left post.
Erling Braut Haaland is one of the most complete strikers in world football at 20 years old. Anyone who says he has no technical ability is lying.
Haaland struck the crossbar and Dani Olmo responded by hitting the post for Leipzig.
Haaland went one better in the 71st minute when Sancho set him up to score with a header after some fine team interplay from Dortmund. Then Reus sent the Norwegian through to round goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi and seal the win late on.
Substitute Alexander Sorloth’s 89th-minute strike was too little, too late for Leipzig. Dortmund climb to fourth, three points behind RB Leipzig, after their third win in four games under new coach Edin Terzic.
