Frank Lampard insists Ross Barkley IS Chelsea penalty taker after Valencia miss and tense stand off with Willian over taker
FRANK LAMPARD insists Roiss Barkley WAS Chelsea’s designated penalty taker after his spot-kick cost Chelsea a Champions League point against Valencia.
Barkley snatched the ball when the Blues were awarded a controversial late chance to equalise against the Spanish side at Stamford Bridge.
TUESDAY'S CHAMPIONS LEAGUE RESULTS
Group E
Red Bull Salzburg 6 – 2 Genk
Napoli 2 – 0 Liverpool
Group F
Inter Milan 1 – 1 Slavia Prague
Borussia Dortmund 0 – 0 Barcelona
Group G
Lyon 1 -1 Zenit St Petersburg
Benfica 1 – 2 Red Bull Leipzig
Group H
Chelsea 0 – 1 Valencia
Ajax 3 – 0 Lille
He ushered away Jorginho and Willian despite a conversation around the penalty spot, only top clip his effort off the top of the crossbar.
The miss meant the Blues crashed to a disappointing 1-0 defeat to Valencia, on a night when midfielder Mason Mount also limped off injured.
But Lampard played down any suggestion Barkley had done anything wrong – or that there was a row on the pitch.
The Chelsea boss said: “Ross is the penalty taker, he has been when he has started games and was when he came on.
“It’s a great story to say there is contention between players but there wasn’t. He took them in pre-season and scored.
“You have designated penalty takers, Ross is that.
“There is no issue among the dressing room, we just wanted to get a result.”
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Team-mate CesarAzpilicueta added: “Ross is one of the best penalty shooters in the team, he is one who takes them. Obviously he wanted to take it – he had the confidence.
“They were encouraging him to have the confidence to score. He was with high confidence to score, so everyone was trying to get him into the best condition.
“It happens.”