I am sad about Chelsea's situation but Frank Lampard will do a FANTASTIC job – Carlo Ancelotti

GOAL

WHAT HAPPENED? Before Real Madrid host Chelsea in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final, the Italian manager fielded questions on his former club’s nightmare 2022-23 campaign. The Blues currently sit 11th in the Premier League and head into this fixture on the back of a 1-0 loss to Wolves, which was also Lampard’s first game in charge in his second managerial stint with the London club. Ancelotti has been linked with a return to Chelsea too, as the club seeks to appoint a permanent successor to Graham Potter in the summer, but he intends to see out his contract at Real through to 2024. Ancelotti has also insisted his side won’t be taking the Blues lightly while rejecting any notion that his experience gives him an edge over Lampard, who he believes will do a “fantastic” job.

WHAT THEY SAID: “I am sad to see them [like this], of the people that are still working there…. I am a supporter of Chelsea, I spent two fantastic years there,” Ancelotti told a pre-match press conference.

“I have 20 more years of experience but this is not going to change what is going to influence what happens in the game. He (Lampard) is a fantastic manager, an extraordinary professional and in this case, I don’t think it [the experience] will be of much use. The truth is that he arrived a week ago and he is aware of how these games can go. He will do well in the time he stays at Chelsea.”