19 April 2023 , 10:38
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Frank Lampard was in no mood to discuss Didier Drogba’s brutal swipe that he no longer recognises Chelsea under Todd Boehly’s ownership.
Chelsea were knocked out of the Champions League by Real Madrid on Tuesday night, with the Blues suffering a 4-0 defeat on aggregate in the quarter-final. It was the latest blow in a disastrous campaign for the club which has seen Lampard return as manager on an interim basis until the end of the campaign.
Lampard has now lost each of his first four matches in charge since replacing Graham Potter, including 2-0 losses to Madrid with the reigning European and Spanish champions. It is the first time since 1993 that Chelsea have lost four games in a row.
Lampard, 44, is Chelsea’s third manager of the season, with the Blues having started the campaign with Thomas Tuchel in charge. Boehly took the decision to sack Tuchel in September and hired Potter instead, but the appointment did not work out with Lampard returning to the club at the start of April.
Drogba, who scored over 160 goals for Chelsea and played a major role in their Champions League success in 2012, was covering the defeat to Madrid for Canal Plus and didn’t hold back in his criticism of the current state of affairs at Stamford Bridge.
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“I don’t recognise my club," Drogba said. “It’s no longer the same club. There is a new owner and a new vision. Of course, we try to compare it with what happened during the [Roman] Abramovich era where a lot of players were brought in, but the decisions were very intelligent.
Didier Drogba was scathing in his criticism of former club Chelsea (Jean Catuffe/Getty Images)Have your say! What needs to happen for things to improve at Chelsea? Tell us what you think here.
“Bringing in players like Petr Cech, Andriy Shevchenko, Herman Crespo, Michael Essien, Didier Drogba, Florent Malouda, and I go on. It was done to win titles. They are players with a certain experience. The strategy is now different; we bet on young players. But a dressing room of over 30 players is difficult [to manage] for a manager.”
Lampard was asked about former teammate Drogba’s views after the game. “They're Didier's comments, sorry,” he bluntly told reporters.
Chelsea made eight signings in the January transfer window, continuing Boehly’s high level of investment since leading a consortium to buy the club from Roman Abramovich last year. The Blues spent over £300million on the likes of Enzo Fernandez, Mykhailo Mudryk and Benoit Badiashile having already shelled out around £200m on new players in the summer.
But Boehly’s first season will end trophyless after Tuesday’s defeat resulted in elimination from the Champions League. Chelsea were knocked out of both the FA Cup and Carabao Cup at the third round stage and sit 11th in the Premier League.