Frank Lampard pays tribute to ‘really good coach’ Marcelo Bielsa, as he aims to repeat history with Coventry City

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Coventry City have to find a way to overturn a 2-1 deficit in the second leg of their Championship play-off semi-final against Sunderland if they are to keep their Premier League dream alive.

It’s been a simply sensational turnaround from Frank Lampard in the last few months as he took the Sky Blues away from the threat of relegation and into the top six, securing fifth on the final day of the regular season.

However, they are behind in their battle with the Black Cats as Eliezer Mayenda found a late winner at the CBS Arena on Friday evening to give Regis Le Bris’ side control heading into the return fixture at the Stadium of Light on Tuesday.

However, Lampard has experience in overturning first leg defeat, and he has looked back on that famous night at Elland Road with Derby County in 2019 as he tries to inspire his current Coventry team to Championship play-off victory.

Frank Lampard praises Marcelo Bielsa ahead of vital Coventry City clash

Six years ago, the Rams found themselves 1-0 down to Leeds United after their home tie and they needed to show character to taste their victory against the Whites that season.

With a little bit of luck, and an incredible amount of desire, Derby were able to come back and win 4-3 on aggregate – sealing their play in the play-off final.

While they were beaten at Wembley by Aston Villa, Lampard has looked back at his experience from that day as something he can use against Sunderland with Coventry City, while he also praised Marcelo Bielsa for his role.

He said (via: Leeds Live): “I guess looking back, it has got to be tactically one of my favourite games that I’ve coached even to this point because I was going up against Bielsa and a team that I felt were really, really strong.

“I don’t think they [Leeds] or anybody else really expected us to turn that game around.

“I really enjoyed that for what it meant for the club. It was one of the first main games for me as a coach where I thought: ‘I’ve gone up against a really good coach, tweaked something and the lads did the rest,'” Lampard concluded.

Frank Lampard has to get his team on the front foot from the start against Sunderland

After a relatively quiet first half, it took until Wilson Isidor’s opener for both the Sky Blues and the Black Cats to start pushing at one another.

Sunderland’s record against Coventry is poor, and they know that if history goes against them again they could be in for a long evening at the Stadium of Light and this will only give Lampard’s side further incentive to attack from the off.

90 minutes is a very short time when you are behind in a game, and the Sky Blues will be looking to get themselves on level terms very early on and put pressure on the home side.

With an added rivalry between Sunderland and Coventry, Tuesday evening has all the makings of an incredible night of action and Lampard will be hoping that he can repeat his own history.