Chelsea legend Frank Lampard was subjected to boos by a section of his own fans during New York City FC’s 7-0 thrashing by rivals New York Red Bulls on Saturday.
The incident happened after Lampard was brought on in the game at Yankee Stadium with 15 minutes to go, as his team were losing 5-0 to their city rivals.
The substitution marked the 37-year-old’s first appearance for New York City since March following Lampard’s trouble with a calf injury this year while he was also this week revealed to be one of the highest paid players in the league.
A report showed that the former Chelsea midfielder earns about £4,108,660 per year – the fifth highest behind Kaka, Sebastian Giovinco, Michael Bradley and Steven Gerrard.
With Lampard having had very little game time for New York City this season and, with the team being on their way to equalling the record for the heaviest-ever loss in MLS history on Saturday, some New York fans directed their frustrations at the midfielder after they booed him onto the pitch in the 74th minute.
The former Chelsea midfielder has called on his New York City teammates to show some character following the crushing defeat.
“The only plus for me today is that physically I feel very good,” the ex- England international said, as reported by Goal. “It’s been a difficult injury – so to feel good and feel 100 per cent and to come on and at least play a part is good for me personally but obviously a very bad day for us.
“There’s a lot to be done now. The first thing is that the league hasn’t changed much. We lost a game, we lost three points, so we have to put that in perspective when we look forward as the plus.
“Obviously, seven goals is a huge negative. We need to address the things that let us down today. We were all very honest here.
“Now is a tough day, and we need to address that, but now we need to start getting back to the things that were helping us get good results. Now is the time to take it on the chin and show a bit of character and get a good result.”
New York City are just one point behind Philadelphia Union in the Eastern Conference but Red Bulls are now trailing City by one point in third after yesterday’s victory.
Despite their position in the table, Vieira’s first venture into management isn’t going quite to plan as his side have already lost four of their first 13 games of the season and conceded 24 goals.
Beside Lampard and Pirlo, New York City also have former Barcelona and Spain striker in their ranks as well as the United States international Mix Diskerud.
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