Frank Lampard’s announcement yesterday that he is retiring from professional football prompted an understandable outpouring of praise for his stellar career.
The Chelsea legend bowed out as one of the all-time Premier League greats, having won pretty everything he could during his two decades in the game.
He also lays claim to the accolade of being the highest-scoring Premier League midfielder with a staggering 177 goals. This makes him the fourth highest Premier League scorer of all time behind Alan Shearer, Wayne Rooney and Andy Cole.
An unbelievable feat that just underscores his peerless achievements.
Unsurprisingly there were no shortage of former teammates and even opponents taking to social to pay their tribute to Super Frank.
I feel privileged to have played alongside @franklampard for both @Chelseafc and @England. Great man,great player. True legend. #superfrank pic.twitter.com/UbgeOOBnIs
— Gary Cahill (@GaryJCahill) February 2, 2017
https://www.instagram.com/p/BQAzsGMjrQQ/?taken-by=johnterry.26&hl=en
Good luck with your future Frank #Lampard ! It was an honour to play vs a captain like you. #ADP10 pic.twitter.com/RkICFZ0Vsl
— Alessandro Del Piero (@delpieroale) February 2, 2017
Even huge rival European clubs such as Barcelona and AC Milan took time to tip the hat to Lampard.
Football is filled not only with rivalries, but also with indelible memories. Thanks, Frank Lampard, for your contributions to the game! pic.twitter.com/r64JyTgvPM
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) February 2, 2017
#Lampard retires from football today after an incredible career.
Good luck for the future Frank, from all the Rossoneri! pic.twitter.com/n4WLmGFeUk— AC Milan (@acmilan) February 2, 2017
However there was one noticeable exception to the Lamps love-in as New York Red Bulls availed themselves of the opportunity to indulge in a little partisan trolling.
Lampard, 38, spent the last few years of his career at their cross-town rivals, New York City. So Red Bull decided to use his retirement to post a clip of him getting nutmegged by Mike Grella and make the point that ‘NY is red’.
👋🏼bye👋🏼 #NYisRED pic.twitter.com/VGkNewQ8Nn
— New York Red Bulls (@NewYorkRedBulls) February 2, 2017
Another twist a completely genuine and historic rivalry.
