Lampard praises his team’s spirit after draw

CHELSEA coach Frank Lampard said his side’s heart-thumping 4-4 draw against Ajax in a Champions League Group H match on Tuesday ranked alongside some of the greatest matches he contested as a player for the London side.

“Today was just a mad one. I don’t think there’s too many you can compare it to in my day,” Lampard said after the match.

“I’ve had some mad nights over the years, and some great nights. For everything that it was tonight, and for the spectacle that it was, it’s certainly right up there.”

Chelsea came from 4-1 down to their Dutch visitors after 55 minutes to rescue a draw, helped by two red cards that reduced Ajax to nine men for the last 20 minutes.

The Blues then thought they had gone 5-4 ahead, only for captain Cesar Azpilicueta’s strike to be ruled out by the Video-Assisted Referee for handball.

“Take VAR out of it and the red cards etcetera, what I have to think about is us and the spirit that we showed, and the character is something that I loved and our fans loved,” Lampard said.

“We need to tighten up for sure, but with that spirit we can go places.”

Elsewhere, furious Inter Milan coach Antonio Conte has lambasted the directors of his club for poor planning after seeing his team squander a two-goal halftime lead and lost 3-2 to Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.

The fiery coach repeated his complaint that his squad is too thin and players too inexperienced to battle on two fronts and also suggested that club directors should face the television cameras as well as himself.

“Some important mistakes have been made at the planning stage, we can’t play both the Champions League and Serie A with such a small squad,” said Conte after Tuesday’s match.

“I’m tired of saying the same things over and over again, perhaps they could come here over and say something. I hope that this will help them understand a few things.”

There was no immediate reaction from the club leadership.