Lampard slams Mourinho’s ‘broken ribs’ comments about Rudiger

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Frank Lampard has hit back at Jose Mourinho for his ill-timed questioning of Antonio Rudiger’s integrity.

Lampard said: ‘I think to question his integrity in that time is disappointing.

‘I think pretty universally, certainly what I heard on the commentary and post-match reflection is that the Son incident was a red card.

‘Now I said it after the game, it wasn’t a brutal red card, but it was an instinctive one that warrants a red card in the modern day. VAR took a couple of minutes, so there was no excuse for the referee not seeing it real, or whatever, the VAR saw it perfectly.

‘So it’s pretty clear that was the case. I wouldn’t question Toni’s integrity on that. If it becomes a question of people standing up or falling down in the Premier League, I think there were a couple of incidents in the last 15 minutes of the game where Tottenham players were going over in the box attempting to win a penalty.

‘So we can open up that debate, not just the red card but on mini incidents across many games. I do defend Toni firmly on it.’

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Rudiger issued his own response to Sunday’s incidents on social media, ending a lengthy post by saying ‘it’s just such a shame that racism still exists in 2019. When will this nonsense stop?’

Lampard added: ‘I saw Toni’s social media post, I thought it was well put, from the heart and something he obviously feels very strongly about. I’ll speak to him literally after this this morning when I see him.

‘I would like to think that the players know I am with them on anything like this. We had a similar situation with Tammy, I was pretty firm on that and behind the scenes with Tammy and I will have exactly the similar conversation with Toni this morning.

‘To know that I support him and all my players in any of these situations.’

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