Frank Lampard could not hide his delight as Chelsea sealed a key 1-0 Champions League win over Ajax in Amsterdam on Wednesday evening.
Chelsea headed into the contest with three points from their opening two games in Group H: the Blues followed up a 1-0 home defeat against Valencia with a spirited 2-1 win at Lille, but that opening loss leaves them with little room for error in a tight group.
The Blues travelled to Amsterdam as underdogs against last season's Champions League semi-finalists, but Michy Batshuayi's 85th-minute winner secured a priceless three points which sent the west London club top of Group H.
With points at a premium in a tricky group, Lampard's celebrations at full-time showed just how much the victory meant as the Blues bid to qualify for the last-16.
Frank Lampard told BT Sport: "I'm so happy to come away with this. We knew how tough this game was was going to be.
"They are a strong side, the atmosphere was strong and then to play and beat them - and deserve to beat them - the way we did was brilliant. I was so, so proud of the performance.
"I think we deserved our luck today. I think we deserved our breaks, we haven't had many VAR breaks this year so I suppose it might have been coming, but you create your own luck.
"But for such a creative team they are, we didn't have Kepa [Arrizabalaga] doing too much."
Additional reporting by P
