Martin Samuel over at the Daily Mail has a very interesting in depth interview with Chelsea and England International Frank Lampard about the loss of his mother, the Champions League Final, the almost transfer during the summer to Inter Milan and the feud with Liverpool’s Xabi Alonso.

Via DailyMail 

The net swells, the noise swells and the player peels away, not fast, not in abandon but with a slower, steadier stride, almost holding back, until he raises the index finger of his right hand and points at the sky, lifting his eyes, briefly, in the direction of the heavens, too.

Frank Lampard has performed this small, yet significant, ritual since the day his mother, Pat, died after a short bout of pneumonia in April last year. Pat was 58 and her death was sudden and unexpected. Less than a week later, on his first game back for Chelsea, her son took the penalty against Liverpool which propelled his team to the Champions League Final in Moscow.

He admits that period was a blur. Nine months on he is still struggling to come to terms with the loss. He does not think his pain is unique, but that makes it no less real and at least now he has overcome the desire to run away — from Chelsea, from London, from all those memories and ghosts.

‘It is still with me, it doesn’t get any easier, just different,’ Lampard says. ‘I played the final weeks of last season on auto-pilot. I know some people were amazed that I just carried on, that I took the penalty against Liverpool, all those little moments, but I find it harder acting as normal now. Last season, I was in a daze, I couldn’t think of anything else and, strangely, that makes it easier to play because you have a one track mind, no highs and lows.’

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