Chelsea vs Lille: Tammy Abraham’s maiden Champions League goal will be first of many, says Frank Lampard

Frank Lampard believes Tammy Abraham’s maiden Champions League goal will be the first of many.

Abraham opened the scoring for Chelsea against Lille on his birthday this Wednesday, while Willian marked his 300th Chelsea appearance with the second as the Blues won 2-1 in France.

Abraham is expected to earn an England call-up on Thursday, and Lampard said: “Tammy’s performance was more of the same of what we have been seeing.

“He’s hungry for goals, he’s physical, he gives everything for the team, he has quality with the ball at his feet.

“It’s his first Champions League goal and we’ll see many more, I hope, and many more performances like tonight.”

Abraham celebrated his 22nd birthday with a goal in the 22nd minute after Marcos Alonso, in an advanced position down the left, laid the ball back to Fikayo Tomori.

The young defender launched it into the area where Abraham, just onside, was able to control the ball, spin and place it beyond Lille keeper Mike Maignan.

Lille hit back 12 minutes later when Chelsea left the impressive Victor Osimhen unattended to head in a corner at the far post.

However, with 13 minutes remaining substitute Callum Hudson-Odoi got free down the left and lifted the ball towards the far post, where Willian struck a clever volley into the ground and over Maignan.

Lampard had played down the significance of the match beforehand, but after dropping all three points to Valencia at home two weeks ago, and with a trip to Ajax up next, the margin for error would have narrowed without a victory.

Lampard, who said there is no news on Willian’s current contract situation, added: “There’s a long way to go in the group, but having lost against Valencia we put more importance on this game.

“This is such a tough place, anyone in this stadium would tell you. The roof was on, the crowd were up for it. The speed in their team, in an attacking sense and counter-attacking particularly, was very evident.

“We knew to be ready for it and I thought our performance was really good. We controlled the early periods of the game, we got our goal.

“Set pieces are a problem for us and we have to keep working on that even more, but with the way we played, the chances we created and the possession of the ball we had, I felt we deserved to win.”

Lille could have snatched a point in stoppage time, when Kepa Arrizabalaga sliced a clearance straight at Boubakary Soumare, but the keeper made amends with a brave save at the attacker’s feet.

Lille manager Christophe Galtier said: “We’re frustrated. We equalised at the right time. I tried to strengthen the midfield to win the ball back higher up the pitch, but it didn’t really work and then we conceded a goal of real quality.

“It’s a tough learning curve and we need to work harder to improve.”

PA

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