Chelsea legend Didier Drogba made a dejected claim about his former club ahead of the Blues’ UEFA Champions League quarter-final second leg clash against Real Madrid.
The Blues have been far from their usual standards this season. They are 11th in the Premier League and are winless in their last three matches across competitions heading into their clash against Real Madrid.
Drogba is frustrated to see the dismal run of form. The former Ivory Coast striker told Canal+ Sport ahead of the second leg at Stamford Bridge:
“I no longer recognise my club.”
Drogba is a bona-fide Chelsea legend, having made 381 appearances for the club across two spells, scoring 164 goals and providing 86 assists.
He scored the last penalty kick to hand the Blues the win in the 2011-12 UEFA Champions League final against Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena. The triumph marked the west London-based club’s first win in the UEFA Champions League.
Chelsea manager Frank Lampard outlined the areas of improvement for the Real Madrid showdown
Chelsea lost the first leg against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu by a scoreline of 2-0. Apart from the defeat, Ben Chilwell picked up a red card and will be suspended for the second leg as a result.
Frank Lampard’s team have an uphill task on hand heading into their clash against Real Madrid. Speaking to the media ahead of the game, Lampard pointed out the areas that the team must improve upon to get a positive result in the second leg.
He said (via Chelsea’s official website):
“We had opportunities to score last week, but at the same time there were a lot of things we could have done better in that game, I felt that in-game, and I feel it even more having reviewed the game. There were things we wanted to do from the outset that we didn’t do well enough throughout the game.”
Lampard added:
“That’s not just the physical side, it was our use of the ball. We can improve on that and we have to improve on that to have a chance of turning this tie around. We have worked on that and hopefully you see the fruits of that in the game.”
“I am clear with the players with that. I know they have the capacity to give this a good go, but we must get our game right and be better than we were last week.”
Chelsea enter the contest on the back of three consecutive defeats across competitions. Real Madrid, meanwhile, won against Cadiz by a score of 2-0 in their latest La Liga clash.