Fear and loathing at the Bridge

LONG after the final whistle on Wednesday night, the Frank Lampards, senior and junior, slipped out of a side door at Stamford Bridge, the younger hopping straight into an impressively substantial black car while the elder paused for a moment to share a word with an old acquaintance.

“That was hard on the boys,” said the friend. “Yeah,” Frank Senior agreed, “but you always need the second goal in European competition.”

It was one of the saner post-match comments on a night which had lost itself to hysteria moments after the final whistle. With the wisdom of the ages, the former West Ham favourite was identifying the fact a 1-0 lead is always perilous, under the away goals rule as it meant Michael Essien’s wonder strike on Wednesday would effectively have a value of zero if Barcelona managed an equaliser on the night. Which, of course, they did through Andres Iniesta’s priceless last-gasp goal and in the kind of dramatic circumstances which left Chelsea at first stunned and then reduced to angrily pointing the finger at the referee.