Chelsea legend Frank Lampard quickly shot down any comparisons of Gabriel and William Saliba to iconic Blues pairing John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho.
Saliba and Gabriel have formed one of the best centre-back pairings in the Premier League and impressed again as they helped Arsenal keep a clean sheet in a 2-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League.
With the duo’s success in Arsenal’s defence, it’s inevitably led to comparisons with some of the Premier League’s most iconic centre-back partnerships like Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand, Martin Keown and Tony Adams as well as Terry and Carvalho.
However, Lampard does not believe Saliba and Gabriel come close to Chelsea’s rock-solid defensive pairing.
When asked during Amazon Prime’s pregame coverage of Arsenal against PSG if Saliba and Gabriel were comparable to Terry and Carvalho, Lampard responded: ‘No. Not yet.
Lampard felt Gabriel and Saliba aren’t comparable to Chelsea icons Terry and Carvalho just yet
The Blues legend’s response drew plenty of laughs from the Amazon Prime panel
Gabriel and Saliba have become one of the Premier League’s best centre-back pairings
‘If they go and win two or three Premier Leagues and a Champions League, then maybe you can compare them.
‘I’m not putting them down. They are fantastic and growing all the time. It’s not fair to make that comparison because this is all ahead of them.
‘But at this point, no. But what they’re doing at the minute is great things.
‘But yeah, win some stuff, boys, and you can get in that conversation.’Â
During their time together at Chelsea, Terry and Carvalho won three Premier League titles, three FA Cups and two League Cups.
The pair were also at the heart of a Blues backline that shipped just 15 goals across a full Premier League season in 2004-05.
In an interview with Chelsea’s official site in 2023, Carvalho opened up on the near-telepathic understanding he had with Terry and how it came to be.
‘I was talking to him from the beginning and after we enjoyed ourselves; we had a very good relationship together and we started to know each other quickly,’ Carvalho said.
Terry and Carvalho formed one of the most formidable centre-back partnerships of all time
Lampard felt Saliba and Gabriel need to win titles to enter the comparison conversation
During their time at Chelsea, Terry and Carvalho won three Premier League titles
‘Sometimes we didn’t even need to speak, it was just about looking at each other and I knew what he was going to do.
‘He knew that I liked to cover, I knew that he liked to fight for the first balls, so it was automatic. Those are the kind of things you feel and it is difficult to explain in words.’
Terry and Carvalho’s partnership was broken up in August 2010 when the Portuguese international voiced his desire to join Jose Mourinho at Real Madrid.
As for Terry, he remained at Stamford Bridge until 2017 when he brought an end to his 19-year stay at the club and moved to Aston Villa on a one-year deal before retiring in October 2018.