The rivalry was still alive and beating between Leeds United fans and Frank Lampard on Wednesday night as The Whites eased past Lampard’s Coventry City to win 2-0.
Both sides came into the game in good form – Leeds unbeaten in 13, while Coventry had won their last five including a penalty-shootout win over Sheffield Wednesday in The FA Cup. But Leeds were victorious.
Goals from Joel Piroe and Jayden Bogle saw Leeds run out easy winners when in truth, it could have been four or five. However, Leeds did have Illan Meslier to thank for pulling off a couple of wonderful saves.
Daniel Farke described Meslier as “outstanding”, while Stuart Dallas thinks Meslier might have pulled off the save of the season with his stop to deny Ellis Simms. After full-time, Leeds fans sang at Lampard.
What Leeds fans and Lampard were spotted doing at full-time
Leeds fans and Lampard have a rocky relationship after the Spygate scandal. Lampard has since said that it didn’t bother him that much, but Patrick Bamford recalls an angry phone call from Lampard at the time.
The then-Derby manager has been seen as a rival among Leeds fans since and with three points secured, Leeds fans sang their ‘stop crying Frank Lampard’ rendition during injury time at the CBS Arena last night.
Lampard is said to have retaliated while making his way off the pitch. Some reports say the Coventry boss cupped his ears to the Leeds fans, while others say he held up four fingers on one hand, two on the other.
A reminder to Leeds fans that his Derby side beat them in the 2018-19 play-offs, winning 4-2 at Elland Road after Marcelo Bielsa’s side had won 1-0 at Pride Park in the first leg. Clearly, no love lost.
Frank Lampard responds when asked about full-time gestures
Never one to shy away from a bit of confrontation or understanding when to perhaps be quiet, especially after his side had suffered defeat to Leeds, Lampard was quizzed after the match about his gestures.
The Coventry manager was quoted by The Athletic’s Beren Cross on X as providing a seven-word reply. Cross says that Lampard did not want to comment on his actions: “I don’t want to talk about that.”
With 15 games left to play in the Championship, Leeds are five points clear of both Burnley and Sheffield United though Chris Wilder’s side have a game in hand. Next up is Millwall in The FA Cup on Saturday.
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