After a thrilling match yesterday which saw Manchester City’s Frank Lampard sent an awesome parting shot to his former club Chelsea, the dust is still yet to settle between the two clubs.
Manuel Pellegrini believes that Frank Lampard was kicked out of Chelsea as the Manchester City boss engaged in another ‘war of words’ with Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho at the Ethiad.
Lampard came on as substitute to score a late equaliser and deny his former club a fifth successive win in the Premier League. The veteran didn’t celebrate after his goal and was applauded by Chelsea fans at full time.
The game seemed to be in Chelsea’s favour after taking the lead through Andre Schurrle and City’s Pablo Zabaleta was sent off. Lampard scored five minutes from time and awarded the champions with a point.
Pellegrini said: ‘Chelsea didn’t want Frank Lampard, otherwise (he) would be playing for them.
‘I told him to go and score. I was so sure he would play well against Chelsea because he is a very good professional. I am very happy for him. He has experience and he has quality.’
Mourinho refused to discuss Frank Lampard in his post-match interview. The coach ,who once said Lampard was the world’s best midfielder, had this to say:
‘I don’t talk about players with other teams. I will never tire of talking about him as a Chelsea player but he is no longer a Chelsea player.’
Pellegrini also questioned Chelsea’s tactics saying they were set up to contain City. ‘They tried to keep 10 players behind the goal, like a smaller team,’ said Pellegrini. ‘We wanted to win from the beginning. After that we had 10 players so I am satisfied with the performance.
‘We showed character against a big team that came here just to defend.’
Chelsea remain five points clear of the champions with a three-point lead at the top and Mourinho said: ‘Many many times he (Pellegrini) says these things, but he never speaks about me.
‘We came to a super difficult stadium and a super difficult opponent. We have left with better conditions than when we arrived.
‘We hit the post. When you want to win matches, they have to go in. We had a tactical reaction to try to win the game, they had an emotional reaction to try not to lose the game. They were successful in their emotional reaction. It was a point maybe they deserved.’
Asked to sum up Chelsea’s display in three words, Mourinho said: ‘Very, very good.’