Can’t blame him for wanting to save that message
Frank Lampard has revealed that he received a voice note from Pep Guardiola after Chelsea lost to Liverpool in the 2019 Super Cup.
Liverpool won the final after securing a 5-4 victory on penalties, with the game finishing as a draw at the end of full-time and extra-time.
Frenchman Olivier Giroud – who now plays for AC Milan after leaving Stamford Bridge in July – opened the scoring for the Blues, before Sadio Mane levelled the tie just after the interval.
The Senegal international grabbed his second goal in the first-half of extra time, but Jorginho converted a penalty to take the game to penalties.
Jurgen Klopp’s side scored all five of their spot-kicks in the shoot-out, before Adrian saved Tammy Abraham’s penalty to ensure victory for Liverpool.
Lampard, who was dismissed as Chelsea manager in January, has now disclosed that following the match, he received a voice message from City boss Guardiola, who was full of praise for his team.
Speaking on Gary Neville’s The Overlap, Lampard was asked by Neville which manager, past or present, he would have loved to play for.
The ex-Chelsea boss was quick with his response, replying: “Pep”.
Apologies to my Spurs friends 😂
My 29 questions with Frank Lampard is out now on The Overlap, give it a watch if you like 👍🏻 https://t.co/ENMWuON0XI pic.twitter.com/YKvBGjr9M4
— Gary Neville (@GNev2) November 25, 2021
Following up on his answer, he explained how the Spaniard had complemented the Blues’ performance in the Super Cup final, despite them losing the tie.
He added: “When I first had my first game for Chelsea and we lost to Man Utd 4-0 and we played well for 60 minutes and we got done on the counter and then bang, bang it was two, three, and it was four.
“At face value, it’s 4-0, you can’t defend it as a manager, you have to take it on the chin.
“Then we went to the Super Cup and lost to Liverpool, played well, lost on penalties.
“I was on the plane home on the way back from the game, a little bit disheartened and I got a voice note from him.
“Just saying that the way my team had played, he said ‘It was incredible, I loved watching it’, really positive chat.”
The 43-year-old also joked about the voice message ‘self destructing’ after he had listened to it.
“It was one of those voice notes that deleted itself. It was almost like self destruct,” said Lampard.
“I wanted to get home and say ‘listen to this everyone, Pep said I’m a good manager'”.
Lampard has not yet returned to top-flight management since their departure from Chelsea, although he was heavily linked to the Norwich job following the sacking of Daniel Farke, before Dean Smith was named as the Canaries’ new manager.
Related links:
- Jody Morris claims Chelsea’s sacking of him and Lampard was ‘super harsh’
- Frank Lampard rejects Norwich City job offer
- Thomas Tuchel says Frank Lampard helped Chelsea get to Champions League final
