Chelsea coach Frank Lampard said his side’s heart-thumping 4-4 draw against Ajax in a Champions League Group H match on Tuesday ranked alongside some of the greatest matches he contested as a player for the London side.

“Today was just a mad one. I don’t think there’s too many you can compare it to in my day,” Lampard, who is Chelsea’s all-time top goal-scorer and won the Champions League with the Blues in 2012, told reporters after the match.

“I’ve had some mad nights over the years, and some great nights. For everything that it was tonight, and for the spectacle that it was, it’s certainly right up there.”

Chelsea came from 4-1 down to their Dutch visitors after 55 minutes to rescue a draw, helped by two red cards that reduced Ajax to nine men for the last 20 minutes.

The Blues then thought they had gone 5-4 ahead, only for captain Cesar Azpilicueta’s strike to be ruled out by the Video-Assisted Referee for handball.

“Take VAR out of it and the red cards etcetera, what I have to think about is us and the spirit that we showed, and the character is something that I loved and our fans loved,” Lampard said.

“We need to tighten up for sure, but with that spirit we can go places.”