Seeing Frank Lampard and Cesc Fabregas getting on perfectly well on TV together will have sparked memories of when the two former midfielders were fierce rivals on the pitch – to the point that they once squared up to one another during a game with Lampard was sold by Chelsea to avoid friction with Fabregas.
The BBC Euro 2024 pundits were both on duty for Portugal’s late victory over the Czech Republic on Tuesday evening, but did not exactly see eye-to-eye when they were on the pitch together.
It all started in a bad-tempered 2007 League Cup final, when Arsenal’s Fabregas was 19 (Lampard is ten years his senior).
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Cesc Fabregas and Frank Lampard had several on-pitch clashes in their playing days
After a large-scale altercation broke out between the two sides at the Millennium Stadium, the two broke into their own mini-scuffle and had to be quickly separated. Lampard and Fabregas clashed again 11 months later after tempers flared again between other players.
Old tensions came to the fore again in the remarkable Barcelona vs Chelsea Champions League semi-final second-leg encounter that caused Gary Neville to make a very troubling noise as Fernando Torres won it on aggregate for the ten-man Blues late on.
Lampard admitted to BT Sport that his surprise move to Manchester CIty in 2014 came about because then-Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho felt he could not co-exist with new signing Fabregas.
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Lampard said: “We never played together… they let me go to get Cesc in. Me and Cesc never really got on well on the pitch so they didn’t think we could share a dressing room.”
The Englisman was magnanimous about it, however, saying upon his departure from Chelsea: “I’d hate to put pressure on him. What I’ve done at Chelsea will never change. I hope they do well – Cesc and myself have had our battles in the past but I wish him the best because I wish Chelsea all the best.”
Frank Lampard and Cesc Fabregas of Barcelona battle for the ball during the Champions League Semi Final, 2012 (Image credit: Getty Images)
Fabregas said: “I think he will tell you the same thing. We have had many, many battles during the years and we kind of disliked each other on the football pitch because he wanted to play and win for Chelsea and I wanted to win for Arsenal.”
He added: “We met each other at the World Cup in Russia working for the BBC and we went to the gym together.
“We were having lunch together and that was when he had just signed for Derby [as manager], and I was asking him questions about how he saw the situation and he was explaining his plans a little bit.
“This is what football is about. I respect him so much for what he has done with Chelsea and for football in general. He was a fantastic player and a fantastic opponent to play against.
“Of course, I disliked him, because many times they beat us and it was difficult to play against him, but always with respect and admiration.”
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