Chelsea manager Frank Lampard has refused to back Glasgow Rangers manager Steven Gerrard's comments on whether a break would ease the current coronavirus problem in football.

Lampard doesn't agree

Ahead of the Ibrox outfit's match with Celtic at Ibrox on Saturday, Gerrard said that football gives people a distraction, and that the data does not suggest a two-week break would eradicate the problem within the game.

Lampard did not agree with his comments. Speaking of his side's own clash against Manchester City, he explained:

"I’m not sure on that one. I understand it. If you do love football you love watching the amount of games you get to watch at home. But safety has to be paramount.

"There are lots of people working at Chelsea within our bubble who have babies, parents, friends, sisters, brothers, grandparents…they come here and go to work.

"Then they go home and are in the environment where there’s another surge of the virus, which seems to be more contagious, so safety and security are paramount rather than trying to keep the nation’s spirits up.

"I know that might not be a nice thing to say, but these are tough times for everybody. We enjoy watching our football but safety and health have to come first."

Good point

You can understand where Gerrard is coming from. Of course, football does provide a distraction to fans around the world, and obviously a break does not guarantee that no-one will test positive for the coronavirus. However, at the end of the day, safety is the most important thing.

As we have seen with the likes of Allan Saint-Maximin and Jamal Lascelles at Newcastle, the virus can have long-term effects on footballers seemingly in their prime. Hopefully, it does not come a point where another suspension is needed.

In other news, Rangers fans hammered this man against Celtic.