Lampard: I'm in debt to Ranieri
• Midfielder thanks Italian who signed him for Chelsea
• Two will come face-to-face on Wednesday
Monday 23 February 2009
Lampard credits Claudio Ranieri with with teaching him the continental aspects of football.
Photograph: John Walton/Empics Sport/PA Photos
Frank Lampard has paid a glowing tribute to Claudio Ranieri, thanking the Italian for the considerable impact he made on his career, as Chelsea prepare to welcome their former manager back to Stamford Bridge in Wednesday's Champions League tie with Juventus.
Ranieri spent almost four years at the west London club after succeeding Gianluca Vialli as manager in 2000, and while he did not win a trophy in that time, he did secure Champions League qualification and a semi-final against Monaco in 2004. The Italian brought Lampard, William Gallas and Emmanuel Petit to Chelsea and, following Roman Abramovich's takeover, added Joe Cole, Damien Duff, Claude Makelele and Petr Cech.
He left in the summer of 2004, when Abramovich turned to Jose Mourinho, despite the club having enjoyed their best season in half a century, but "the Tinkerman" is still considered fondly by his former players. "It'll be very special to see Claudio again," Lampard said. "I love the man. If it wasn't for Claudio I might not be where I am now. He brought me to the club, improved my game and showed me another side to the game.
"As a West Ham boy I didn't know the continental style and the way to live my life. He brought me here and showed me those ways, and I've got nothing but thanks for him for the way he helped my career. He made John Terry captain at a young age, signed Gallas and bought Petr Cech at the end. He took us to the Champions League semi-final and was a huge part of what we went on to achieve. No one's got a bad word to say about him around the place, which shows you what a good man he is. I'm very pleased at how well he's done at Juventus."
Ranieri departed Stamford Bridge in tears after his final game, against Leeds. He spent brief periods back at Valencia and with Parma before taking over at Juventus in 2007. Progress in Turin since has been staggering. He hoisted La Vecchia Signora into the Champions League on their return to Serie A, and has led the pursuit of Internazionale. Juve beat Palermo 2-0 on Saturday to remain nine points from leaders Inter, their first goal courtesy of the former Liverpool midfielder Mohamed Sissoko, who hopes to recover from an ankle injury to feature on Wednesday.
Juve will meet a Chelsea team revived by Guus Hiddink's appointment and a 1-0 win at Aston Villa. "It's a big lift ahead of Juventus, and we needed that," Lampard said. "It's a home tie and it's imperative we get the right result to go out there with.
"We need to keep the ball and move it quickly, as Italian teams can get men behind the wall and make things frustrating. At times recently we've moved the ball slowly, but we moved it quickly against Villa and you can see the danger we created. We'll need to maintain that against Juventus to give ourselves a chance."
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