Frank Lampard: Mum's illness has been hardest time of my life

Only those who have been in a similar situation to Frank Lampard will appreciate just how difficult it must have been for the Chelsea star even to think about a football match when his mum lay in hospital fighting for her life.

Yet here he was at Anfield, wearing the blue of Chelsea again and doing his best to help his team-mates chisel out a decent enough result to take back to Stamford Bridge for next Wednesday's second instalment.

If things had been different, mum Pat and dad Frank would have been in the Anfield grandstand, proudly supporting their son as they usually did up and down the country and in Europe.

But Pat has pneumonia and remains in a serious but stable condition in Whipps Cross Hospital and Frank admitted that even three days ago, he was in no frame of mind to play.

Then, buoyed by some positive doctors' prognosis at last, he had finally prised himself away from her bedside and gone back to work.

It was difficult, excruciatingly difficult at times for the England midfielder.

Warming up before last night's 1-1 draw, he looked up into the Liverpool night sky a couple of times and you could imagine what he was thinking.

However, when the whistle blast signals the start of a Champions League semi-final, it has to be business as usual and Lampard had a good idea what his mum would have wanted.

"Three days ago I wasn't going to play but we got some decent news about my mum on Saturday afternoon and my head came around a bit then," Lampard said.

"I made the decision to go into training on Sunday and I must say the manager and the club have been fantastic towards me, they have put absolutely no pressure on me.

"I just felt it would be better to train and play in the game because, last week, I was in a bad situation. Mum and dad have followed me up and down the country and when she wakes up I know she would have a right go at me if I hadn't played.

"That was in the back of my mind, and because she's stable at the minute that gave me a bit of a clear mind to come and play.

"I'd only trained for two days before the match and, to be honest, I've been in better shape, both mentally and physically.

"It's been difficult but once I got up to Liverpool, the buzz of the game began to affect me and it was a little bit easier."

In truth, Lampard struggled to make much of an impression in the game, though he was not alone as most of Chelsea's midfield failed to take a grip on proceedings.

And just before half-time, he uncharacteristically dallied on the ball deep in the Chelsea half, was robbed by workaholic Dirk Kuyt and then could only watch with increasing irritation as the Dutchman fastened onto a mis-hit ball from Javier Mascherano to fire home through the legs of Blues' keeper Petr Cech.

At half-time, Lampard stalked off, angry with himself and determined to make amends.

The second half was equally attritional and it looked for all the world like Chelsea were heading back south needing to pull back a 1-0 deficit before, in the final minute of injury time, John Arne Riise amazingly nodded Salomon Kalou's low cross beyond his own goalkeeper, Pepe Reina.

Lampard added: "This time last week the outlook was very bleak and it was the hardest moment for me and my family - the hardest moment in my life so far.

"Slowly things have improved and I am very lucky to have a very tough mum and a very good person.

"That might be what's helping her at the minute and hopefully she can keep pushing on now."

At the end, Lampard hugged his team-mates, acknowledged the travelling Chelsea fans and was last to leave the pitch.

"It's far from done yet," he warned.

"It would be more important probably if it was a European team who had to travel to Stamford Bridge for the second leg but with Liverpool they know what they have to do, they know they have to beat us or force a high-scoring draw and they have a week to think about it.

"There has been a lot of talk about the advantage of having the second leg at home but that's only true if we managed to to get the right result at Anfield. In the end, though, maybe we did."

For Lampard, the football can take a back seat again for a while.

Today he was back where a son needs to be at a time like this - by his mother's side.