Ross Barkley showed a ‘lack of professionalism’ says Frank Lampard, after Chelsea midfielder was pictured shi

Ross Barkley has been accused of ‘lacking professionalism’ by his manager after the Chelsea midfielder was pictured dancing in a nightclub without a shirt on.

Barkley, 25, was caught in Dubai during the most recent international break, and although his trip was sanctioned by the club Frank Lampard is not best pleased by the nightclub incident.

The Blues boss has left Barkley out of his travelling squad for Wednesday’s Champions League group stage encounter with Valencia – which is LIVE on talkSPORT 2 – as he is struggling with an ankle injury.

And he challenged Barkley to shape up despite publicly backing his midfielder.

“There are two separate issues, one is the headlines this week, Ross knows how I felt about the first headline,” said Lampard.

“I backed him then and I still back him now. But he showed a moment of a lack of professionalism as far as I’m concerned.

“It’s not something that I want to be a pure dictator about and come down hard on, because I also understand all my players are humans and have lives. So he just has to work his way back in, in terms of the fitness thing, and train well.

“I like Ross, he’s certainly one of my players. And he needs now to show all his reactions on the pitch.”

Chelsea will qualify for the knockout stage of the Champions League if they beat Valencia this evening, though they head into the match having been defeated by the Spaniards at Stamford Bridge on matchday one.

Callum Hudson-Odoi and Antonio Rudiger join Barkley on the sidelines as they continue to recover from injury.