Source: SKY_Sports
Lampard - Ronaldo irreplaceable
// A bit of a hack but it works// The article snippet is wrapped onto a second line, even when #article-sub is emptyif( $("div#article-sub").children().length == 0 ) {$("div#article-sub").remove();} Frank Lampard believes the only player that could fill the void left by Cristiano Ronaldo at Manchester United is Lionel Messi.[LNB] Ronaldo left Old Trafford this summer to join Real Madrid in a world-record deal and Lampard believes the Red Devils will find it impossible to replace the Portuguese.[LNB]The England midfielder feels that it is only Barcelona star Messi who could match Ronaldo's ability for Sir Alex Ferguson's Premier League champions.[LNB]And with that transfer highly unlikely, Lampard is confident Chelsea, who resisted the temptation to sell captain John Terry to Manchester City, have an advantage. [LNB]When asked about Ronaldo, he said: "You don't replace him, apart from with Messi - he is probably the only player you could do it with.[LNB]"With Ronaldo, the amount of goals he scores, the amount of times you flicked on the telly and saw he had scored and they had won 1-0 or 2-0.[LNB]Difficult"It is very difficult to replace him. I saw Ferguson say that himself and I don't think he will look to replace him. He will look to make the team as strong as a whole by not having him.[LNB]"That is the only thing they can do. That is probably one of our big plusses this year - we didn't lose our big players."[LNB]But Lampard believes that Chelsea's hard-fought win over Hull City on the opening day demonstrates that the Premier League is becoming an evenly matched division.[LNB]"The league is more competitive this year. It seems teams have found ways to be hard to beat," he added.[LNB]"Look at Hull at our place the other day - they were big and powerful and they are looking at a different route of staying up.[LNB]"These kind of games have become tough and wherever you go you are in for a very tough game, probably more so than a few years back."[LNB]
