Previous: Xabi Alonso broke his leg in this challenge with
Frank Lampard on New Year's Day 2005
Lampard returns to Anfield, the last ground he played at
while Pat (Mom) was alive. Emotion, however, will be tempered
by the professional reality that is Chelsea’s continuing search for
supremacy over their title rivals. Liverpool, Manchester United and
Arsenal have each inflicted defeats on them and a second loss to
Liverpool in one season would be viewed by many as the critical
blow to the Premier League ambition of Luiz Felipe Scolari’s
men.
It is a grudge match, too. None of the elite care to lose their
duels, but games between Liverpool and Chelsea have added spice,
the way that meetings of Arsenal and Manchester United once
did.
There is rivalry and then there are the teams that really don’t
like each other. Lampard offers a diplomatic response, but a
knowing smile.
‘It is strong, I can’t deny that,’ he admits. ‘The players feel
an extra edge. You’ll see it on Sunday. We’ve played them so many
times in big games so lots of individual tensions build up. There
is always something between me and Xabi Alonso, for instance.’
But you broke his leg.
‘Yes, I know, and it was a foul and I got booked, so I am not
trying to plead innocence, but it was a tap, it wasn’t anything
nasty; the sort of tackle that happens all the time, both ways.
That night, when I heard how it had worked out, I felt very bad and
phoned to apologise but he wouldn’t really have it and ever since
he has that look in his eye when we meet, and there is always a bit
of jostling and shoving.
Alex Ferguson mentioned our age as a mind game pre-season
and it caught on
Also soon to be heading for the knackers yard, Lampard hopes, is
the suggestion that Chelsea’s team is a spent force, old men on
their last legs, exposed by United at Old Trafford and there for
the taking at Anfield, if Liverpool get their act together.
‘I know it was being talked of as the end of an era after the
United game,’ Lampard recalls. ‘I can understand it because coming
off that pitch felt terrible and not like us. But sometimes you
have to touch the bottom to come back up and recapture what you
really are. Now we can attempt to disprove the criticism and I
think we have turned that corner.
Down but not out: Frank Lampard and John Terry trudge off
the Old Trafford after the demoralising 3-0 defeat to Manchester
United on January 11
We are not too old to win the League. Yes, we’ve got players who
are 30, but they are top players. Sir Alex Ferguson mentioned our
age as a mind game pre-season and it caught on, but I am 30 and
feel better than I’ve ever felt, fitter and more experienced. Look
at boxing, these days 30 can be your peak.
‘Gianfranco Zola won Chelsea’s player of the year at 37. He was
unbelievable. And how did Ryan Giggs play for Manchester United
against us? Fantastic.
‘There have been two over-reactions this season. We were never
going to be the runaway champions that people talked about and I
don’t think the crisis was as bad as it was made out to be. Maybe
we were winning games too comfortably and some players started
taking things for granted.
