Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand was part of BT Sport’s expert team at the Bernabeu for Real Madrid against Chelsea but asked for a late change to their transfer
Frank Lampard looks back on Chelsea vs Real Madrid clash
Rio Ferdinand told BT Sport chiefs that there had to be a quick change ahead of their live coverage of the Real Madrid-Chelsea clash.
The Blues travel to the Spanish capital as huge underdogs thanks to their desperate struggles in the Premier League. Frank Lampard will become the third other manager in the Chelsea dugout for a Champions League clash, following the sackings of Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter.
Things didn’t start well for the club’s record goalscorer either, losing the first game of his second spell 1-0 at Wolves. A trip to the European champion hardly comes at the right time, although the two-time winners in this competition were significantly better.
However, they will need everything to go their way in Madrid and the BT expert team didn’t risk bringing bad vibes to Lampard’s side. Ferdinand posted a video on his social media explaining that the production executives had placed their pitch table on the floor right in front of the Real Madrid crest.
The Manchester United legend took to Twitter and, along with ex-Chelsea star Joe Cole, refused to be in front of the cameras. “I think we need to talk here, Coley…what are they asking of us, mate?”
As a mark of respect to the Spanish champions, Cole then stopped to avoid standing on the badge. “They ask us to stand on Real Madrid’s bag. You can’t, man!” added Ferdinand.
Rio Ferdinand joked he had to speak to BT Sport’s floor manager and said he couldn’t be behind the table because of the Real Madrid crest on the floor
“We wanted to stand here,” said Ferdinand, pointing to the table in front of the badge. “We have to talk to the floor manager, that’s not possible. We’ll roll it up so we’re not on the badge.”
Cole then joked that before kick-off they “didn’t want to poke the bear” with signs of disrespect. “You don’t poke the bear, this guy’s right. He’s scared,” Ferdinand joked before he and Cole burst out laughing.
The incident comes 24 hours after Joao Cancelo opted not to be on the Manchester City crest when he returned to the club for the first time. The Portuguese youngster was back in Manchester following his loan move to Bayern Munich in the January window.
Chelsea arrive at Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu
And despite fans booing his introduction to the action, Cancelo has done what it takes to show his parent club is still important to him.
Lampard named a team full of Champions League experience, with Thiago Silva, N’Golo Kante and Ben Chilwell making the line-up. On the eve of the game, Lampard challenged his players to show their leadership skills in the Bernabeu’s cauldron.
“There’s no point in being called a leader until you show why and how you do it on the pitch,” Lampard said. “We have a lot of players who have a lot of titles so we can’t call ourselves very young because when I go through the squad I see a lot.”
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