Frank Lampard insists Chelsea's Champions League hopes still alive

Frank Lampard called on his Chelsea players to "change the story" when they face Real Madrid at Stamford Bridge next week after they went down 2-0 in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final.

The interim manager insisted the door remained open to the last-four ahead of the second leg, despite watching his 10-man side fail to muster a fightback in the second half in Madrid.

A red card for Ben Chilwell just before the hour mark effectively ended any hope the team had of springing a surprise against Real, after Karim Benzema had scored to give the European champions the lead in the first half.

Marco Asensio fired in a second after 74 minutes to leave Lampard's team facing a mammoth task to rescue the tie at Stamford Bridge next Tuesday, as their last hope of rescuing a wretched season hangs by a thread.

"It’s a big challenge of course, a team of the quality of Real Madrid," said Lampard.

"The door is open, it’s up to us if we want to kick it open further.

"Mixed emotions about the game. For a period with 11 men, we were in the game, we had some chances. I think we could do better.

"We can utilise our strengths better, especially with the wing-backs, we can be more urgent. Those are things for myself and the staff and the players to work on. I saw opportunity there that we didn’t quite take.

"The spirit was great at the end of the game was great – 10 men for half an hour, you understand a lot of things can happen.

"We have to believe. I have to be the first one to believe this is possible."

The result meant Chelsea have failed to score in four consecutive games for the first time since 1993, with three different managers having overseen a goalless run stretching back to 18 March.

Real were ruthless in dispatching the