Rio Ferdinand has questioned a number of Chelsea fans who were seen leaving Stamford Bridge early on Tuesday when their side were 4-1 down against Ajax in the Champions League. 

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The Blues found themselves trailing by three goals early in the second half with a handful of Chelsea supporters spotted heading for the exits as a result. 

Frank Lampard’s side were far from done, however, and, after Ajax had two players sent off, the Blues pulled themselves level and even had a winner ruled out by VAR for handball. 

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The match was one for the ages and Ferdinand was quick to take aim at the Chelsea fans that walked out on their side far too soon. 

“You can’t walk out,” Ferdinand said on BT Sport. “The spirit within this stadium and this club, the way they have responded to Frank, then you can’t come out of this stadium even at 4-1 down.”

Gary Lineker echoed Ferdinand’s stance, adding that those fans who did leave will have plenty of regret. 

“We saw fans walking out at 4-1 and they must have said ‘What did I do? Why did I leave?’ when they got home,” Lineker said.

“It just shows you with football you never know. You never give up.”

Lampard, for his part, never doubted his side had the spirit to fight back and revealed that at half-time he had even suggested to his team a 4-4 draw was on the cards. 

“I told the players at half-time that we could draw the game 3-3, or win it 4-3 or 4-4,” Lampard said.

“I’m not saying that to be clever now, but the few moments that we conceded in the first half was a mixture of our sloppiness and also some bad fortune. I will always be self-critical of sloppiness.

“But I felt that we were in the game, Christian [Pulisic] and Willian, and our pressing off the ball, that we were firmly in the game but needed a bit more in the final third.

“We needed to lift the spirit of the stadium, so I’m delighted with that part of it. Maybe disappointed in the last 10 minutes not to win it. In the cold light of day we were 4-1 down, so it is a good result in those terms.”

Asked if the match was the maddest he’d ever been a part of, the Chelsea legend conceded it was in contention. 

“It is hard to put it in perspective. I have to watch it back,” he said. “I had some mad nights over the years, some great nights. But everything it was tonight, the spectacle it was, it is certainly right up there.”