Chelsea manager Frank Lampard said he told his players to keep believing during his team talk at half-time against Ajax last night.

The Blues came from 4-1 down to draw 4-4 against nine-men in an extraordinary Champions League group game, and Lampard said he felt a result was still on the cards despite conceding three in the first half:

“I told the players at half-time I thought we could draw the game 3-3 or win it 4-3 or it might be 4-4. I’m not saying it because I’m clever now, I just felt that a few moments were a mixture of our sloppiness and also some bad fortune.”

“I felt that we were in the game. I felt that there were moments with Christian (Pulisic) and Willian and our pressing of the ball meant that we were firmly in the game. We just needed a little bit more in the final third and we needed to lift the spirit in the stadium.”

Goals from Cesar Azpilicueta, Jorginho and Reece James completed a dramatic second-half comeback after Donny van de Beek had put the away side three goals ahead.

The red cards for Daley Blind and Joel Veltman certainly played a role in the fightback but there’s no question that Chelsea showed a lot of character to recover in the game. They could have even had a winner but Azplicueta’s second effort was ruled out due to a handball in the build-up.

A draw means the Blues are now on seven points, along with Valencia and Ajax, after matchday four, with it all still to play for heading into the last two group games.