Lampard: I'm no fool, age is a factor

Frank Lampard feared for his England place when he temporarily lost his starting position at Chelsea, and now, a thigh injury threatens his involvement at the UEFA EURO 2012. However, if a scan gives England manager Roy Hodgson the all-clear to take Lampard with him to the European championship, the midfielder will be aiming to make the most of what could be his last tournament as an international footballer. Lampard has no intention of retiring as an England player in the near future, but he turns 34-years-old next month and knows time is not on his side. Participating at the European championship in Poland and Ukraine was looking uncertain as he became a bit-part player at Stamford Bridge before enjoying a renaissance under Roberto Di Matteo, after Villas-Boas was dismissed. Lampard said: "Is it the last chance with England? Possibly. One day it might be taken out of my hands, so it's not an easy one to answer. I don't see myself retiring or taking myself out of it in the near future, so I wouldn't want to call it the last one necessarily. "But I'm no fool and I know that age is a factor and, when you're at the top international level, you don't go on forever. Nobody does. I will take this as potentially one of my last chances. This year in the Champions League I had that same mindset. I didn't think it was my last year, but you know that it won't go on forever and it makes you appreciate it even more." Lampard's England place appeared under threat when he struggled to win a place in Fabio Capello's side, even in the absence of Steven Gerrard and Jack Wilshere, because of his lack of starts for Chelsea. "I did wonder if I was going to make it (the EUROs) earlier in the season," said Lampard. "I'm not silly. I wondered if I'd be out. "I took nothing for granted at that stage and it just shows you how football can turn, not just for myself. A few in the squad might have been out of the picture a few months ago and now they are in the picture. I can only be thankful that I just kept going through those times." Lampard is quick to recognise how the change of management at Stamford Bridge helped to resurrect his season at club and international level. "Over the years, you learn never to get too down in the bad moments, never to get too excited in the good moments. I kind of kept a cool head in the end and took the rough with the smooth - and there was certainly some rough at that time. "Not playing regularly for Chelsea was something I didn't enjoy, but I had to get through and with England as well. You can't expect always to be first choice throughout your career. It was looking like it was going in a tough way for me. And it changed. With the managerial change at Chelsea, I started to play more and I felt more confident and fitter from playing more and felt like I could contribute more." Lampard is still coming to terms with being a UEFA Champions League winner after Chelsea's dramatic penalty shoot-out success over Bayern Munich. "It does feel different now you're European champion. Once the idea of winning it sunk in over the last week, I certainly felt very confident and very happy about it. "How ever much we'd talked down the idea of winning it after all these years, you really do feel that it was the one, the special one, that wasn't in our grasp. Now it is, it does make a difference to how you feel."