Chelsea manager Frank Lampard has backed his young Chelsea team to play without fear against any top side that they might draw in the last 16 of the Champions League after the Blues booked their place in the last-16 with a nervy 2-1 win over Lille, courtesy of two first-half goals from Tammy Abraham and Cesar Azpilicueta.
But Lampard’s side faces a tough task when the Champions League recommences next year with Chelsea in line to face one of Paris Saint Germain, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, RB Leipzig or Juventus – who are managed by the previous manager Maurizio Sarri.
But Lampard insisted the rest of the competition holds no fears for his team, saying: ‘I don’t mind the idea of having a bigger team. That’s the Champions League and if you win you may have to take on big teams.
‘The young team we have got here, what a challenge. At the minute I’m just delighted we got through a tough group.
‘We should just be happy we’re through and whoever we play next we have to give it our lot.‘
On the win over Lille, the Chelsea manager admitted the night should have been far more comfortable having taken a 2-0 lead.
He said: ‘It did get twitchy. We need to take our chances better. At 2-0 I thought it was not quite done and when Lille scored it made it a more nervy finish to the game than it needed to be.
‘Today was a sign of how much work we still have got to do. It should have been a calmer finish to the game and that is the biggest thing, for me, that we need to improve.
Chelsea made a poor start to their Champions League campaign losing 1-0 at home to Valencia on the opening tie but clawed their way back into contention with impressive away win against Lille and Ajax before sealing their passage into the knockout stages with a home win on Tuesday.
