Chelsea’s LA-based billionaire owners are relying on a Hollywood-style reboot to save their season, with Frank Lampard at the heart of his beloved club's redemption story.
One report this week described how comedy actor James Corden, a friend of both co-owner Todd Boehly and Lampard's cousin, Jamie Redknapp, helped to somehow engineer his return. Despite the absurdity of the claims, there is some logic behind the decision.
Boehly wants to tap into a nostalgia factor that the club's all-time leading goalscorer can bring. Lampard invoked his side's unlikely success to win the competition in 2012 in a speech to his players last night. He described how he and his team-mates achieved glory out of one of his most difficult seasons at the club.
Eleven years on, and Lampard is writing the script as caretaker boss, bidding to bring a happy ending to a dire campaign so far. Only by winning Europe's most prestigious competition can the club consider this season to be a success. The 44-year-old was brought back to Stamford Bridge with these matches against the 14-time European champions Real Madrid in mind. He is uniquely placed to keep the dream alive against his mentor Carlo Ancelotti, the competition's most successful manager, after Graham Potter was sacked. Lampard and his assistant, Blues legend Ashley Cole, know the players well and can galvanise a fanbase desperate for something to cheer.
They switched to a 4-3-3 formation in the 1-0 defeat against Wolves, attempting to play more open and attacking football after the Potter era ended with just 28 non-penalty goals in his 31 games.
The coaching staff — including the highly-respected Joe Edwards and Chris Jones — are also trying to bring emotion out of their squad and instil the belief that it is not mission impossible in the Bernabeu.
Lampard said: "We have to have the belief that we can perform under that pressure. We're very committed to trying to, if we can, create our own little bit of history.
"We have to have belief, we have to follow the idea, because in a high-level game, the biggest thing can sometimes be the mentality — following through with what the idea is, under pressure. At this level, you have to be spot on with our game to take it back to Stamford Bridge in front of our supporters."
Lampard is trying to get a response from players who he thought lacked aggression and did not play to the required standard at the weekend.
It may seem obvious, but many players have lost their way. The 18 new signings have disrupted the group, while many have described both publicly and privately how it feels like a 'new club'. Some have seen promises broken between regimes and others feel dispensable, including Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who joined in September.
The data-driven approach to recruitment around young players has not worked but old heads could return to hurt Madrid. N'Golo Kante, Mason Mount, Thiago Silva and Cesar Azpilicueta are all available tonight. Chelsea rested Kante to prepare him to take on Madrid, while the others are back from injuries.
Kante was named man of the match for each leg against Madrid in the 2021 semi-finals, before winning the accolade again in the final against Manchester City.
Mount scored the opener away in Madrid last season, when Chelsea were unlucky to be knocked out in a narrow defeat over two legs. Along with captain Azpilicueta and vice-captain Silva, they provide a huge lift as the club attempts to win a trophy out of the chaos.
It is something Thomas Tuchel replicated in 2021 after Roberto Di Matteo's initial success in the competition in 2012. Rafael Benitez and Gianluca Vialli also won European trophies after coming in midway through the season.
Like Chelsea, Lampard himself is trying to salvage something out of a difficult season. He was sacked by Everton in January and many have written him off as a top-level coach.
Tonight, he and his players have a chance to answer the critics.
