Frank Lampard’s ludicrous decision causes Chelsea’s Champions League demise

The Independent says The hard-running figure on the right of the front three scored once. Then he scored again, powering his team into the Champions League semi-finals. It was almost Frank Lampard’s gameplan paying off perfectly. Except that the goalscorer was Rodrygo, the logical choice by Carlo Ancelotti, who is proof that four Champions Leagues can be won with the aid of a willingness to do the obvious.

The man on the right of Lampard’s front three, however, was N’Golo Kante. That N’Golo Kante. The one often deemed the world’s best defensive midfielder. The one with 13 goals in 266 games for Chelsea. And the one who, when granted an early chance to break the deadlock, scuffed a shot well wide in the manner of a man who had no belief he would score.

Aided by Rodrygo’s double, Real Madrid reached an 11th Champions League semi-final in 13 seasons. Aided by the galvanising powers of a Todd Boehly team talk, Chelsea exited Europe. Perhaps they were always doomed to: from the 2-0 defeat last week, from the moment the draw was made, from the time Boehly decided to buy a football club. But there will be no redemption now: their season is a crushing, costly failure, a masterpiece of stupidity.

https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/chelsea-frank-lampard-real-madrid-kante-b2322200.html