Chelsea’s interim manager, Frank Lampard has insisted his relationship with Antonio Rudiger was fine until the player moved to Real Madrid.
Wednesday’s Champions League clash at the Bernabeu sees Lampard come up against Rudiger, who he nearly sold during his first spell in charge of the Blues.
The German defender eventually went on to shine under Thomas Tuchel, winning the Champions League, before moving on as a free agent.
“My relationship with him was fine. A lot of people obviously like to speculate on relationships outside of the football club, and as a manager of Chelsea you have 25, 27 players, you have decisions to make every week.
”Antonio Rudiger played a lot for me. But obviously our story ended and another story continued as part of a successful Champions League-winning team. And he was a big part of it,” Lampard said.
