No rift with Rudiger, Lampard insists

Frank Lampard has insisted there is no rift between him and former Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger.

The defender was frozen out by Lampard before re-establishing himself as a key player under his successor Thomas Tuchel and helping Chelsea win the Champions League before leaving to join Real Madrid last summer.

The Blues face Real in the Champions League quarter-final first leg on Wednesday, with Lampard back at the helm after being installed as interim boss following the recent sacking of Graham Potter.

And Lampard says there are no issues between himself and Rudiger, who was a fans’ favourite during his time at Stamford Bridge.

“I think Toni Rudiger has done fantastically well,” Lampard said.

“When I last saw him, as Everton manager against Chelsea, I wished him well as the Madrid move was happening at that time.

“My relationship with him has been fine. A lot of people obviously like to speculate. As a manager of Chelsea, which I was and am again now, you have 25-27 players and you have decisions to make every week.

“Antonio Rudiger played a lot for me. But obviously our story ended and his story continued as part of a successful Champions League-winning team and now he’s had his move.

“So good luck to him. Good luck to any professional who works as hard as Toni has in his career.

“To be playing for Chelsea and Real Madrid, he fully deserves it.”

Chelsea will be underdogs against the holders, who emphatically beat Liverpool in the previous round.

“We have to understand the strengths of the Real Madrid team in terms of their qualities in possession and individual talent,” Lampard said.

“We have to be very, very disciplined with our game off the ball against Real Madrid – understand the very clear threats.

“We have to be defensively good against that but also have to show the strengths of our game. We have to have the belief.”