Frank Lampard says Chelsea are desperate to win the UEFA Super Cup against Liverpool on Wednesday and will accept no excuses if they fail to get their hands on the trophy.
Lampard s reign as Chelsea boss got off to a disappointing start on Sunday, with the Blues slipping to a heavy 4-0 defeat to Manchester United in their Premier League opener.
They have an immediate chance to bounce back, however, when they take on Jurgen Klopp s Champions League winners in Istanbul.
Lampard has been on the losing side twice as a Chelsea player in Super Cup finals [against Atletico Madrid in 2012 and Bayern Munich in 2013] and says his side will be giving everything to defeat their domestic rivals.
I ve had two great examples of a really important game that you don t win in two different ways and it makes you more determined to win it, he told UEFA.com.
We need to be absolutely ready. It s a cup that the club desperately wants to win. I ve never won it, a lot of players in there have never won it, so we have to give it everything.
One day to go!
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC)
Going up against the team with the quality of Liverpool in a final is as tense as finals can be.
You can lose finals, they re very tough. But what you cannot do is lose it on the premise that we weren’t prepared, or we didn t have that hunger or desire or everything you need to try and win a game of this magnitude.
It s going to be one of my first competitive games as manager of this club. Every player in there needs to be aware of the importance of the game to this club and we have to give everything, because it s going to be tough.
It s going to be tough, but we cannot walk off the pitch and think oh, we could ve done that or we missed that opportunity or we weren t quite ready or make any excuses for ourselves.
