Aston Villa 1 Chelsea 2
11th May 2013
Premier League
Villa Park
Chelsea; Petr Cech, Ashley Cole, Ramires, Frank Lampard, Juan Mata, Victor Moses
(David Luiz 45), Eden Hazard, Gary Cahill, John Terry (Branislav Ivanovic 75), Cesar
Azpilicueta, Demba Ba (Fernando Torres 88)
Scorer; Lampard (2)
Sent off; Ramires
Booked; Ramires, Terry, Lampard
Manager; Rafa Benitez
Referee; Lee Mason
Attendance; 42,084
Frank Lampard is a legend of Chelsea Football Club. Some would argue he is the greatest
player in the Blues history. In 2005 he came second in the Ballon D’or, behind Ronaldinho.
In his time at the club he won three Premier League titles, four FA Cups, two League Cups,
two Community Shields, the Europa League and of course the Champions League. On top
of this he won individual awards such as the Player of Year award by the PFA, FWA,
Chelsea (3 times), England (twice) and the UEFA Midfielder. He was one of the world’s
greatest ever midfielders.
During the 2012/13 season Frank Lampard was in negotiations with Chelsea about a new
contract as his was expiring at the end of the season. Many Chelsea fans wanted him to
remain at the club and Frank had said that he would also love to stay. He had given so much
to the club and so his loyalty (and ability) surely deserved to be recognised. However, there
was one record that Lampard was getting close to.
Back in 1907 George Hilsdon overtook Jimmy Windridge to become Chelsea leading
goalscorer with 40 goals. It was another thirty years when George Mills topped the scoring
charts before Roy Bentley outscored him by 1955, eventually scoring 150 goals. In 1966
England won the World Cup and a few months prior to this Bobby Tambling surpassed
Bentley and scored a total of 202 goals. Kerry Dixon had come closest to eclipsing this
amount but only managed 193 before moving to Southampton in 1992.
Chelsea played Stoke at the Britannia Stadium. The Blues won 4-0 and included a penalty
from Frank Lampard to put his goal tally up to 194, into second place, one goal more than
Kerry Dixon and just eight behind record goalscorer Bobby Tambling. Less than a week
before, Steve Kutner, Lampard’s agent, announced that Frank would not be offered a new
contract by Chelsea and would leave when his contract expired that June. The race was on
to get those eight goals.
After the Stoke game Super Frank managed to score goals against Arsenal, Reading,
Newcastle, Wigan and Brentford. He was sitting on 199 goals and it was fitting that he
scored his 200th Chelsea goal against his former club, West Ham. Their fans had always
given him abuse for leaving the club in an £11m move in 2001. He didn’t score again until
the end of April when Juan Mata was brought down in the penalty area by Swansea’s Leon
Britton and Lampard converted from the spot. He was now just one goal away from equalling Bobby Tambling’s goal scoring record which had stood since 1969. There were only a maximum of six games left before Lampard’s contract was up.
In the Blues next fixture they faced Basel and won 3-1 but Lampard was not on the score
sheet. A few days later they travelled to Old Trafford and beat Man Utd 1-0, with Juan Mata
getting the only goal of the game. A midweek match against Tottenham came shortly after at Stamford Bridge and the home side managed a 2-2 draw but Frank was an unused
substitute.
On the 11th of May Chelsea took a trip to Villa Park to take on Aston Villa. A crowd of just
over 42,000 came to watch as Christian Benteke gave the Villains a 1-0 lead after 15
minutes. Ramires was later sent off before the break leaving his team to face the Villains
with only ten men. The half time whistle blew and the Blues made a change with David Luiz
coming on for Victor Moses.
Around the hour mark Christian Benteke was sent off for a foul on John Terry. Shortly after
Frank Lampard received a pass from Eden Hazard and hit a fierce left foot shot from the
edge of the area which flew past Brad Guzan in the Villa goal. He’d done it! Frank Lampard
had equalled Chelsea’s all time goal scoring record. What made this even more impressive
was that Frank Lampard was a midfielder.
Things got even better for Chelsea and indeed Super Frank. With the final whistle fast
approaching it was Hazard again who found Lampard just three yards out who couldn’t miss.
He had given the Blues all three points but just as importantly meant that Lampard had
finally surpassed Bobby Tambling’s record leaving him the top goalscorer in his own right.
By the end of the season the club had taken a U-turn on their contract negotiations and
Lampard agreed to sign a one year extension claiming it was always his dream to stay at
Chelsea. He would then go on to score a total of 211 goals for the club and will remain a
Chelsea legend forever.
