Micah Richards tells hilarious story about being blanked by Frank Lampard

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·17 de octubre de 2023

Micah Richards tells hilarious story about being blanked by Frank Lampard

Former Manchester City defender Micah Richards has revealed hilarious story of when, following his first call up to the England national team, Chelsea cult hero Frank Lampard ‘blanked’ him. The defender, now 35, enjoyed a 13-game career for his nation, though some of the senior players – Lampard in particular - seemingly gave him the cold shoulder when domestic football resumed.

Steve McClaren first introduced Richards to the international fold back in 2006 in a 1-1 draw against the Netherlands. He played his last game in the fabled white of England six years later as he, rather poetically, faced the Netherlands again.

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Across the six-year period, Richards came in and out of the senior squad while chalking up appearances in the Under-21 set up, while a host of injuries – mainly to his shoulder – often kept him away from the fold, too. Richards was joined by Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer on their ‘The Rest Is Football’ podcast as they reminisced on one the former’s brightest highlights of his career – his inaugural involvement in the England set up.

When Lampard blanked Richards

As the triumvirate were chatting away about reaching the pinnacle of the sport by representing your country, Lineker asked whether Richards – who, as mentioned, was given his debut in November 2006 - by exclaiming: “Big Meeks is here!”.

Richards referenced Jude Bellingham’s iconic celebration as to how he tipped up on his first taste of international duty before Lineker described him as “Bellingham without the ability”.

“So, going to England, you had Man U, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, whatever. And then you had Man City, Everton, Watford. So me, Joleon Lescott and Ashley Young were all together so because I’m England now, I feel like I’m one of the guys. “[Steven] Gerrard is my mate and Lampard, or whoever it is. So, we finish international break now and we’re playing Chelsea away, Stamford Bridge. Horrible place to go, we used to get thumped there all the time. “We’re in the tunnel now, and you’re lining up and saying hello. I think I said hello to Joe Cole. I tried to say hello to Lampard. He only goes and blanks me. So I’m thinking ‘Is it game face or whatever?’ “As we are going out to the pitch now, I’m thinking ‘Has he just blanked me?’. It was only last week when we were together in England camp, I thought we were mates!”

The charismatic player-turned-presenter then claimed that his primary objective was to smash his compatriot Lampard as the first given opportunity. That was not the case, however, as Richards remembered it ended heavily in favour of the Blues, and he was at fault for a host of their goals. Oh Micah, never change.

"So now I'm in my own head, aren't I? And I'm thinking, 'I'm going to smash him the first chance I get.' Honestly, the highlights in that game, it was about six or seven nil to Chelsea. I'm at fault for at least five of the goals."

Lampard talked to Richards about the incident after

The lovable trio then began to discuss whether Richards spoke to Lampard after the game – and boy, his response did not disappoint. Richards and Lampard then linked up on international duty again and Richards explained the awkward conversation the pair had.

“I see him again. We’re back at England now. We were in the physio room and basically, he shook my hand, and he said: ‘I’m one of the good guys. I was just in the zone, and I’m pretty shy, so if it came across as arrogant, I apologise. “I said ‘You could have f*****g told me that at the f*****g game!”

While Richards was unravelling the aspects of his story, Lineker sneakily got one of the producers to delve into the depths of the internet to find a picture of Lampard looking very angrily in the direction of Richards as his team dispatched Manchester City. All of them were laughing by the end, and it's no surprise either. Check out the video for yourselves below.