The Blues coach presented the return match against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu
Mission Impossible has officially launched. Chelsea host Real Madrid tomorrow in the second leg of the quarter-finals, starting over from the 2-0 lead in the first leg and putting all their problems of a negative season into this impossible match against the European champions, who at the Bernabeu last Wednesday gave the clear impression of being superior. “Our reality is that we are eleventh in the Premier League and 2-0 down in this match – said Frank Lampard -. But they are realities we are fighting against, trying in every possible way to demonstrate who we are”.
Identity
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Who Chelsea really is this year doesn’t seem to have figured it out yet. He didn’t do it in the beginning of the season with Tuchel, then in the 6 months with Potter. Now Lampard tries, who in three games has made up for three defeats including the first leg. “I don’t want to blame anyone for the situation we’re in, I’m just saying that this is the situation and we’re working to improve it – said Lampard -. It is not a question of commitment, but of concentrating on the work: one that would take time, but which we are trying to do quickly, obtaining results as quickly as possible”. Lampard also has to grapple with the prospect of bankruptcy, the idea that without the impossible comeback, Chelsea’s season would effectively end on April 18, with the last month and a half of the Premier League to be played without ambition. “We will do everything to try to pass, including trying to involve the fans who can give us a big hand, but it will go as it goes. However it ends, every game for Chelsea must be an opportunity to try and win, because individually, myself included, and collectively we all want to show that we are Chelsea.”
The mountain
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Chelsea’s mission is called Real Madrid, the mountain to climb which is also the reigning champion team, the one that in the Champions League turns into an unattainable steamroller for almost everyone. “To have the success they’ve had, first of all you need a great coach – says Lampard referring to Carlo Ancelotti -: I know him very well for having worked with him, he deserves all possible recognition for this moment at Real, and we saw last year, in their march towards the final, how crucial it was. The other thing Real have is a group of players who have been playing at this level for years, which means they have talent, work ethic, leadership skills. I think it’s a great recipe for success, plus the individual talent of special players who can decide a game at any moment.” This is the impossible mission against which Chelsea must measure themselves: “If we go forward it won’t be like winning the Champions League – says Lampard -, but it will certainly be very, very special”. So much so that even in London there are few who believe it.
April 17 – 17:59
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