Frank Lampard revealed his horror at being attacked by a
Tottenham fan as he celebrated Chelsea's 2-1 FA Cup quarter-final
replay win.
Lampard was savouring the triumph with his teammates in front of
the Chelsea supporters at White Hart Lane on Monday when two Spurs
ran onto the pitch to confront him.
One of them got close enough to throw a punch at Lampard, but he
failed to make contact with the England midfielder. Stewards
eventually dragged the fans away as Blues boss Jose Mourinho and
his coaching staff intervened.
Lampard, who had thrown his shirt to Chelsea's fans, insisted he
was within his rights to celebrate and said: "I saw the guy coming
and just ducked. He should never have been on pitch. There is a lot
of emotion in this game, but we should be able to celebrate with
our own fans.
"It's not fair. Their fans gave us stick for the whole game and
then complain when we celebrate. The feeling had built up from the
first game and that showed."
Mourinho warned Tottenham's security staff that they must be
more alert in future to avoid a repeat. He said: "It could have
been worse. With the last whistle maybe the security slept a little
bit, but they could never imagine a fast guy could jump to the
pitch and chase my player.
"They just have to be alert in the future. Frank is OK. He is
happy with the victory. Everything else is second."
Spurs boss Martin Jol admitted the supporters should have kept
their emotions in check and said: "That is not something you like
to see, but what can I do about it? I am not responsible for the
safety. I can feel for their frustration, but you have to take your
disappointments on the chin."
London Police confirmed that both supporters were arrested for
encroachment, but the disgraceful scenes overshadowed a Chelsea
victory that set up a semifinal against Blackburn next month.
Andriy Shevchenko had provided the game's decisive moment with a
goal of the highest quality early in the second half.
The Ukrainian cut in from the right wing and curled a superb
strike past Paul Robinson from just inside the area to break the
deadlock after 55 minutes.
Spurs were rocked by that setback and Mourinho's side seized
total control six minutes later. Didier Drogba chested down Ashley
Cole's pass to Shaun Wright-Phillips and the winger shot powerfully
past Robinson.
Robbie Keane reduced the deficit with a 79th minute penalty
after Ricardo Carvalho had fouled Dimitar Berbatov, but Chelsea
held on to keep their dreams of a quadruple trophy haul alive.
They have already won the League Cup and are still in the
Champions League and FA Cup, as well as retaining an outside chance
in the Premiership.
Mourinho believes Chelsea can make history by winning all four
and he said: "It is possible. We have a 25 percent chance to win
the FA Cup. We have a 12.5 percent chance to win the Champions
League and to win the Premiership we need to win every game and
Manchester United to lose four more points.
"We are behind in the Premiership because of the injuries we
had. I almost played centre-back at times.
"We never play with our best team but when we do we show what we
can do. The way we have progressed shows what this team is. The
season is brilliant and we just need to win more trophies."
"This team is committed to be in the FA Cup final. The way we
played we showed that. The kids played like men."
Tottenham now have only the UEFA Cup to challenge for after a
season that has promised so much. They had already lost in the
League Cup semifinal to Arsenal, but Jol said: "You can't say the
best team has won, but what can you say when Shevchenko scores a
goal like that.
"We were there in the League Cup semifinals, in the FA Cup
quarterfinals and now in the UEFA Cup quarterfinals. You can say we
are a nearly team but what about all the other teams who are not
there."
(China Daily via AFP March 21, 2007)