SPY DON’T BELIEVE IT!
Lamps hits out at old foe Bielsa’s fair play award
FRANK LAMPARD has slammed FIFA’s decision to hand Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa their Fair Play Award.
World football’s governing body gave the prize to the Championship club and their boss at a ceremony in Milan this week.
Bielsa won it for ordering his team to let Aston
Villa score an equaliser at Elland Road in April.
Mateusz Klich had put
Leeds ahead while Villa forward Jonathan Kodjia was down injured.
But Lampard insists it is wrong to hail Bielsa for his sportsmanship in the same season he admitted spying on all his rivals.
Lampard said: “I don’t think it’s right.
“There was a lot of news about ‘Spygate’
at the time, quite rightly so, and it got dealt with in the right way – and when you go and give an award for fair play in the same year, it’s strange.
“I don’t know who votes for it. Everyone knows what happened with Spygate, it is well documented. The rules changed because of it and they were fined. To get a fair play award off the back of that, I thought it was irony at first.”
A Leeds employee was caught spying outside Derby’s training ground when Lampard was in charge of the club.
They were fined £200,000 and the rules were tightened up to prevent spying on opponents within 72 hours of a game.
Lampard doesn’t think Bielsa should have got the award anyway, adding: “It was a dead rubber against Villa.
“The game had slowed down to the point of the ball going out, and it was quite right they gave Villa the opportunity to score.”
Chelsea face Leicester today with Lampard telling Callum Hudson-Odoi he can be the new Raheem Sterling if he works at it.
The Chelsea boss was critical of the young England winger after his comeback from injury in Wednesday’s 7-1 Carabao Cup win over Grimsby.
Yesterdy he said: “I say it as I see it. I know Callum’s talent, he has huge talent, hence why the club were so keen to get him signed up and we’re all delighted with that. But there’s a lot of work for Callum to do.”