Chelsea coach Frank Lampard has admitted that his team must play to their strengths in their upcoming UEFA Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid.
The Blues will face the reigning European champions over two legs, with the first game taking place on Wednesday. Chelsea has struggled with poor form in recent months, leading to the sacking of Graham Potter and the appointment of Lampard as interim manager. Lampard’s arrival, however, has yet to have a significant impact on the team’s Premier League standing, as they were defeated by Wolves in his first game back in charge.
Chelsea’s upcoming match against Real Madrid will be a significant challenge, given that the Spanish giants eliminated them at the same stage of the competition last season.
When asked about his game strategy, Lampard emphasized the importance of playing to the strengths of the team. This suggests that he may have identified areas where they can exploit Real Madrid’s flaws to achieve a favorable outcome.
It remains to be seen whether Lampard’s tactical plan will be enough to overcome the challenge posed by Real Madrid.
“We have to understand the strengths of the Real Madrid team, their qualities in possession and their individual talent. We have to be very disciplined in our game off the ball, and understand the threats,” he said.
“There are some very clear threats individually in their team. Ways Madrid like to score and regularly score and how they want to control the game. So we have to be defensively good against that.
“But we also have to show our own strengths in our game…We have to have belief, we have to follow the idea because in a high-level game the biggest thing can sometimes be the mentality – following through with what the idea is, under pressure. At this level, you have to be spot-on with our game to take it back to Stamford Bridge in front of our supporters.”
Lampard also discussed the players he’s most worried about coming up against on Wednesday.
“It’s a difficult question, because once you start naming one, two, three, you ask about fourth. It’s a team with a lot of good individuals. I’ve got a huge amount of respect for the team. My biggest respect for the Real Madrid and the success is for the serial winners – Benzema, Modric, Kroos – a huge amount of admiration for them,” he added.
“To appreciate what it takes at this level to win so regularly, to know what it takes to win so regularly. That’s what it makes them the special players they are. They all have incredible qualities.
“Of course, Vinicius Jr as a young player has incredible quality. We have to make the players aware of those threats. In certain areas of the pitch where we know the threats are repetitive. The one-on-one with Vinicius Jr and Benzema at the top end of the pitch. The players have to deal with it.”