Back in August, when the freshly appointed Chelsea manager surveyed the tasks set out for him in his debut Champions League campaign, his eye was drawn to matchday five.
Valencia away. “A difficult stadium to go to,” warned Frank Lampard. In his mind’s eye were the steep, tall stands of the Mestalla, the throb of drums, and a catalogue of personal memories.
Valencia-Chelsea tussles have been threshold moments for a number of Blues managers, and Lampard is an expert witness to that, from his long period as a player in the various Chelsea teams that came through at the Mestalla and then came to regard results achieved there as a lucky omen. The last two visits formed part of the journeys that ended up with Chelsea in a European Cup final.
The stakes this evening are high. Three clubs – Ajax the other – are tied on seven points in the joust for the top two places. Three of Group H’s managers, Lampard, Valencia’s Albert Celades and Lille’s Christophe Galtier, are fresh to this level and none of the men in charge have quite mastered one basic law of negotiating the group-stage: Make your home inviolable.
Ajax were ambushed 1-0 by Lampard’s young side in Amsterdam, but Chelsea also conceded four Ajax goals in a riotous draw at Stamford Bridge.
Valencia pumped four past Lille at the Mestalla, but lost 3-0 there to the Dutch champions. The ‘H’ of Group H, it seems, stands for hurly-burly. Or perhaps for hazardous head-to-heads.
Win tonight and Valencia would go through because of six points in total against Chelsea. A victory would mean Chelsea progress, their overall points in any three-way tie being enough. Ajax, semi-finalists last season, can only confirm progress in their last match, at home to Valencia.
Lampard can recall a similarly taut scenario in Chelsea’s group phase of 2011-2012. A new manager, Andre Villas-Boas, had taken over in the summer and went to Valencia while still in the process of blending a side he wanted to show a greater emphasis on youth.
That night, though, Villas-Boas was grateful for one of the club’s longer servants, Lampard himself, for what proved a crucial point. Lampard scored the opening goal, Valencia’s Roberto Soldado equalising late in the night with a penalty.
The final group fixture would be a winner-takes-all at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea ousting Valencia 3-0 as Lampard, miffed at being left on the bench, watched on, unused. Villas-Boas would be sacked within three months. The season finished with Lampard captaining Chelsea in their first victorious European Cup final.
Rewind to 2007, and another new manager faced a test of his credentials at the Mestalla. Avram Grant had been appointed caretaker coach less than two weeks earlier, amid scepticism.
It grew when David Villa gave Valencia the lead after less than 10 minutes, to cacophonous cheers around the stadium.
Goals from Joe Cole and Didier Drogba reversed the momentum, and an unexpectedly glorious journey under Grant had begun.
Chelsea's Euro battles with Valencia
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Valencia's Rodrigo scores the winner against Chelsea in the Champions League at Stamford Bridge in September. Reuters -
Chelsea's Ross Barkley misses from the penalty spot against Valencia in September. Reuters -
Chelsea's Didier Drogba scores against Valencia at Stamford Bridge in December 2011. Reuters -
Chelsea's Frank Lampard celebrates his goal against Valencia at the Mestalla Stadium in September 2011. Reuters -
Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas at the Mestalla in September 2011. Reuters -
Chelsea's Didier Drogba against Valencia in October 2007. REUTERS -
Chelsea's Joe Cole celebrates with teammate Didier Drogba after scoring against Valencia in October 2007. Reuters -
Chelsea's Andriy Shevchenko celebrates his goal at the Mestalla in April 2007. Reuters -
Chelsea's Michael Essien celebrates his goal at the Mestalla in April 2007. Reuters
It finished in Moscow, where Lampard scored Chelsea’s goal in the Champions League final against Manchester United, who defeated Grant’s side only on penalties.
The Mestalla had also been the scene of Jose Mourinho’s last epic knockout tie from his first spell at Chelsea.
Five months before Grant replaced the Portuguese, a simmering tension surrounded the Chelsea who headed to Spain for the second leg of a Champions League quarter-final.
Mourinho’s relationship with owner Roman Abramovich had turned spiky, the defence of the Premier League title rickety, and having conceded an away goal – David Silva’s opener – in the 1-1 first-leg draw in London, Chelsea seemed vulnerable.
Even more so when Fernando Morientes gave Valencia a 2-1 aggregate lead at the Mestalla. An Andriy Shevchenko goal pulled Chelsea back on even terms for the second time in the tie and, come the 90th minute, extra-time beckoned.
Enter Michael Essien, a locomotive down the right flank, with a stunning winner from an implausible angle. As Lampard exited the Mestalla, he issued a mission statement: “If you're going to win anything big in football, you have to perform on the edge, you have to perform on the big nights when your backs are against the wall.”
Lampard the manager will likely something similar to his players this evening, remind them that the 1-0 loss to Valencia in September at Stamford Bridge emphasised the callower aspects of his young team: A cute Rodrigo goal from a set-piece naively defended; a Chelsea penalty missed by Ross Barkley. “We conceded from their one shot on target,” Lampard said. “It was a harsh lesson in Champions League football.”
