Chelsea’s coach, Frank Lampard was very happy with how his players performed in the away match against Sevilla in the Champions League group stage. Lampard made nine changes to the squad that played against Tottenham and Olivier Giroud stood amongst all as he bagged four record-breaking goals in their 4-0 thumping.
Kai Havertz returned to the starting XI after quite a time and even he had a good game alongside Christian Pulisic. The Blues had a backline comprising of Antonio Rudiger and Christensen. Both produced a display that restricted Sevilla to threaten the Chelsea goal.
Giroud obviously stood out as he scored four times, including a perfect hat-trick, and Lampard couldn’t have been happier for the model professional who remains an important part of the Chelsea squad both as a player and an example for others.
‘It was an amazing performance, to score four goals at this level, Champions League level, and against a really good opponent,’ said Lampard as per Official Chelsea website.
‘The individual quality of all of his goals – I know the last one was a penalty – but the team quality of the goals and his individual input were good to see. Four goals, rightly he gets a standing ovation as he comes off the pitch. I’m delighted for him.’
‘He is the ultimate professional and I think he’s done that in his career and I think that’s why with Oli, you see his numbers with France, you see his numbers in the Champions League.
‘He wasn’t always a regular when I got here but as soon as I came in I could feel the positivity of him as a player – how he wants to train, how he wants to affect people whether he starts or not.
On speaking about the changes he made, Lampard said that the players who got a chance to start trained very well in the practice sessions and thus deservedly started the match.
The coach also stated that Giroud is like a mentor to the youngsters of the squad. His immense experience will help the players a lot in the campaign.
‘He’s started a lot for us now and been very impactful in terms of how he was in restart and performances like tonight. So he’s great for the younger players, for other players when they’re not always playing or in the squad of 20-plus that we have, that happens of course.’
‘They keep training well and when they come in they perform like they did tonight. That was a really, really complete performance in the circumstances tonight.’
Chelsea will turn their attention now to the Premier League matches where they are sitting in the third position of the table.
