Frank Lampard has no problem with ‘comfortable’ visit by Chelsea owners

Frank Lampard says he has no issues with Chelsea co-owners Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali visiting the team’s dressing room after yet another loss over the weekend.

After Chelsea’s disappointing home loss to Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday, Boehly, 49, was seen making his way towards the team’s dressing room at Stamford Bridge. He reportedly called the club’s miserable season “embarrassing” and urged the team to improve for the visit of Real Madrid on Tuesday.

Ahead of the UEFA Champions League second-leg tie against Real Madrid at home, Kepa Arrizabalaga was quizzed on the co-owners decision to go to the dressing room.

“Todd (Boehly) comes to the changing room every game. He had different chats with us after different games. I’m not going to say what he said but it’s normal when he comes into the changing room,” he said.

Lampard used his personal experiences as a player of meeting Roman Abramovich in the Chelsea locker room after games to highlight how a positive owner’s love for the team can be beneficial.

“I am comfortable with that,” he said. “There was some criticism of our old owner (Abramovich) for not coming to the games, for not being around. That wasn’t always true. When an owner is very invested in a team and wants to help them improve, it’s their prerogative.

“It had never really happened to me before I came to Chelsea, and I remember being really happy that you could touch the owner, hi-five them, you could listen to them and feel them. I don’t think it’s a bad thing in terms of the identity of the club and where you want to get to, so I have no problem with it.

“I had my things to say after the game. If after that, the owner wants to come in and be positive and speak to the players, then it’s absolutely his part to do that. It’s very regular in the modern day and it shows passion, which is the first thing that I like.”

Boehly was widely mocked for openly predicting that Chelsea will win 3-0 against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu last week, only for the squad to lose 2-0. The Blues will need to overturn the deficit if they are to make the last four.