football interview

“He was fantastic,” Frank Lampard said of Sunderland defender Dan Ballard, praising his commanding presence across both legs of the Championship play-off semi-final. “You could sense he was the one with real presence at the back.” Despite the heartbreak of Coventry’s defeat, Lampard expressed pride in his team’s performance, believing they were the better side overall. “We got back in the game and the feeling was we would go on and win it,” he reflected. “That’s football—it can be cruel in critical moments.”