Overjoyed Lampard hints he is close to signing Chelsea contract

Chelsea fans’ favourite Frank Lampard savoured the club’s Europa League triumph – and strongly hinted that he is set to sign a new contract.

There has been speculation that the England midfielder could leave Stamford Bridge this summer as his current deal is due to expire.

But Lampard, 34, is believed to be close to re-signing for another year.

And he said: “I really, really hope to be around next year.

“With a game tonight and coming up we haven’t sat down and signed anything, but I really hope so and things are looking good. The club have been brilliant.”

Branislav Ivanovic’s last-minute header gave the Blues a 2-1 victory against a Benfica side that dominated the first half but always looked vulnerable at the back.

It meant Chelsea became only the fourth club to win all three major European trophies.

Lampard said: “It’s been an amazing time for all of us involved. Talk about ups and downs in the last two years! But this is a big up.

“We’re a group, a team, and it was tight tonight after the long season we’ve had. No-one deserves this more than Ivanovic – he has been fantastic.

“You make your own luck, and we stick together in this group. The club deserve it.”

And Ivanovic declared: “It’s a great feeling. This team deserved this, because we have had a very difficult season and a lot of games.

“In the end, today was a very hard game and Benfica played very well. But we scored from set pieces and work very hard preparing that part of our game. We deserve that trophy.”

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