Frank Lampard announced his retirement from football today after a career consisting of the all-time Chelsea goals record (147), three Premier League titles, four FA Cups, a Champions League winners' medal and the Europa League equivalent - not to mention over 100 caps and four major tournaments with England.
It's an incredible career - dominated by his Chelsea days, of course - and there are certain things that really stand out. There's the penalty he scored in 2008 in the Champions League semi-final against Liverpool to send Chelsea into the final, on the week his mother died and with his father, Frank Snr, watching in the crowd. There's the goal he scored at Bolton to win Chelsea their first ever Premier League title and there's the infamous Geoff Hurst-like 'goal' against Germany at the 2010 World Cup.
But here are a few great moments you might not remember from the 38-year-old's stellar career.
The lob against Barcelona
October 2006, and Chelsea manage to nick a 2-2 draw at the Camp Nou in this Champions League group game, partly thanks to this simply outrageous chip from Lampard. The ball goes through and he has a quick look, evidently doesn't see any other options, then deftly lifts the ball over the helpless Victor Valdes. Barca would end up finishing in 3rd and exiting, while Chelsea would progress to the semi-finals and suffer heartbreak against Liverpool.
Scoring against Chelsea and not celebrating
There are varying opinions on this practice of not celebrating against your old team. Some people think it's rubbish, that a goal should be celebrated no matter what. But Chelsea fans will have appreciated Lampard's subdued reaction to scoring a crucial equaliser for Manchester City against his old club in September 2014. He said himself afterwards that he was "a little lost for words".
Uncle 'Arry defends him from the cynics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n5-M0skcco
As a teenager at West Ham, Lampard was playing under his uncle Harry Redknapp. At this particular event one West Ham fan states his belief that Lampard isn't "quite good enough yet", complaining that Redknapp had let go players like Scott Canham and Matt Holland. Redknapp memorably responded:
I'll tell you, without a shadow of a doubt, there will be no comparison with what Frank Lampard will achieve in football and what Scotty Canham will achieve in football.
He will go right to the very top. Right to the very top.
Take a look at Scott Canham's Wikipedia page. 'Arry was dead right.
The exquisite pass for Ramires' goal
In April 2012 Chelsea went to the Nou Camp holding a slender 1-0 lead over Barcelona and managed to draw 2-2, earning them progression to the Champions League final. Key to this result was Ramires' exquisite lob, which was set up by a deliciously disguised pass from Lampard that evaded the entirety of the Spaniards' defence.
Ballon d'Or Silver Award
Like in the FIFA Player of the Year award, Lampard was only bested by one man: Ronaldinho, then at his peak at Barcelona. After a season leading Chelsea to the league title and the semi-finals of the Champions League, Lampard also won the Premier League Player of the Season award. Coming second behind Ronaldinho and ahead of players like Steven Gerrard, Xavi, Thierry Henry and Andres Iniesta gives some indication of how incredible Lampard was in the 2004/05 season.
