The Blues are in bad shape after losing the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid (2-0), defending champion. Only eleventh in the Premier League, the Londoners are also struggling in the league, where they have just conceded two consecutive defeats. In the wake of the latest loss, against Brighton on Saturday (2-1), Todd Boehly addressed the players in the dressing room, according to the press, calling their season “embarrassing” in a bid to stimulate them for the match return against Real on Tuesday at Stamford Bridge (9:00 p.m.).
The new owner, at the head of the consortium which bought the club from Russian Roman Abramovich last May, expressed his frustration with the group which fails to justify the 600 million euros spent on the transfer market in the summer and in winter. Blues coach Frank Lampard, who arrived on the bench eleven days ago, defended the American’s attitude. “It’s okay with me. When an owner is very invested, he has every right to make the contribution he wants,” said Lampard, the club’s emblematic player from 2001 to 2014.
Returning to the club’s bench after having already coached him from July 2019 to January 2021, “Super Frankie” lost his first three matches. His return to the club, after the dismissal of Graham Potter, has so far not had the desired effect. But the Englishman refused the idea that Chelsea would be ‘broken’. “We’re not where we want to be,” he admitted. I think the word broken is a bit strong. We have to work to reverse the situation and show that we can do it.”
The man with 211 goals in 648 appearances for the Blues is confident in his players’ ability to overthrow Madrid. “Everything is possible. We are a competitive team and we deserve to be present at this stage of the competition. We are also aware of the fact that our opponent is playing at a very high level. Winner of the first Champions League in Chelsea’s history as a player in 2012, the club icon had witnessed his club’s second ever coronation from afar, a few months after being chased from the bench in the middle of the 2020-2021 season, seeing the German Thomas Tuchel lift the trophy.
