After eliminating Benfica from the Champions League, Chelsea ace Frank Lampard takes aim at Spanish semi-final opponents with revenge for controversial 2009 defeat in mind
Frank Lampard believes Chelsea can claim victory against Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final after reaching the last four by defeating Benfica 3-1 on aggregate.
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Penalty: Chelsea’s Frank Lampard scores u00a0against Benfica at Stamford Bridge. Pic/AFP
The Blues took a 1-0 lead into the quarter-final second leg against the Portuguese side and survived a late scare when Javi Garcia’s equaliser put his side within a goal of progressing.
But after Raul Meireles smashed home in injury time to secure a 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night, Lampard admitted his mind has already turned to avenging their controversial semi-final defeat to Barcelona in 2009.
Unfinished business
“Everyone’s got unfinished business with them,” theu00a033-year-old told Sky Sports. “You have to respect they’re the greatest team in the world; they have been and still are at the present time. That game is still in our minds, but this is a completely different year so we need to try and beat them.”u00a0The meeting with Barcelona will be the first time Chelsea have faced Pep Guardiola’s side since losing to them at the same stage in 2009.u00a0
But despite the Spanish side’s impressive displays in this season’s competition, Lampard is adamant that the west Londoners can get their revenge. “Obviously they’re going to be favourites because of the way they’re playing,” he said.u00a0“We have a lot of belief in ourselves, we know we’ll have to perform at our absolute best to get a result against them and we believe we can do that.”u00a0Lampard’s first-half penalty had given Chelsea a comfortable advantage against Benfica but they failed to take a number of other opportunities to kill the game off.u00a0
Terry’s injury woes
Chelsea captain John Terry will undergo a scan after revealing he cracked two ribs.u00a0The 31-year-old came off an hour into the second leg clash having initially suffered the injury in the first-leg victory in Lisbon.u00a0
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