Chelsea caretaker manager Frank Lampard has suggested that he does not want to buy into the suggestion that he is in a similar position to 2012 Champions League winner Roberto Di Matteo.
Last week, Lampard was appointed as Blues boss on a deal until the end of the season, the club's hierarchy wishing to take their time deciding on a long-term replacement for Graham Potter.
The club legend, in his second spell at Stamford Bridge, has been given the challenge of finishing in the top seven of the Premier League table and winning the Champions League.
As it stands, neither are a likely occurrence, with the Blues in the bottom half of the top flight and preparing to face Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-finals.
Comparisons are naturally being made to Di Matteo, who was appointed as interim boss in February and guided Chelsea to their first-ever triumph in European football's premier competition.
During that campaign, Chelsea enjoyed a staggering run, over-turning a 3-1 deficit versus Napoli in the last 16 before beating Benfica, Barcelona and Bayern Munich, the latter on penalties in the final in Germany.
If the West Londoners are to reach the final on this occasion, they must beat the defending champions and either Manchester City or Bayern, likely the former after their 3-0 success on Tuesday.
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Lampard revealed that he had spoken to previous managers in recent days, but had not held any discussions with Di Matteo.
The Englishman said, as quoted by football.london: "I have not spoken to him. I have exchanged some messages with a few people – obviously, a lot of people are Chelsea-related, Guus Hiddink, ex-managers and people in the game.
"There are parallels in probably a simple sense, we are ex-players. But the year Robbie was here he was an assistant and had a big awareness of the squad and got the job earlier in the year than I did. He did an amazing job. I remember big parts of why he achieved what he achieved.
"My situation is different in practice. I think I have to be careful making that parallel. We have very tough games in front of us, starting tomorrow. So there's a lot of work to be done but we're very committed to trying to, if we can, create our own little bit of history."
Chelsea faced Real in the quarter-finals of last season's competition, but a 3-2 win in the Santiago Bernabeu in the second leg proved in vain as Los Blancos progressed through to the last four.
Lampard's first match back in charge ended in disappointment as his side went down 1-0 to Wolverhampton Wanderers at Molineux on Saturday. body check tags ::
