Chelsea fans who gave up and left early when Blues were trailing 4-1 against Ajax tried to get back into stadium

Rio Ferdinand, Match of the Day host Gary Lineker and Chelsea defender Reece James sends message to Chelsea fans who left Stamford Bridge early against Ajax

Rio Ferdinand, Match of the Day host Gary Lineker and Chelsea defender Reece James on Wednesday hit out at Blues supporters who had seen enough and left Stamford Bridge early when their side trailed 4-1 against Ajax.

The Blues seemed destined for a defeat as first-half own goals from Tammy Abraham and Kepa Arrizabalaga added to Quincy Promes' header and predatory finish from Donny Van der Beek handed the Dutch champions a 4-1 lead.

However, after Cesar Azpilicueta brought Chelsea back into the game at 4-2, the visitors were reduced to nine men by second yellow cards for Daley Blind and Joel Veltman in the move that led to the hosts being awarded their second penalty of the night.

Jorginho scored his second spot-kick before Reece James levelled and only VAR denied Chelsea a famous victory when Azpilicueta's strike was ruled out for a handball by Abraham.

After seeing their side fall three goals behind in the second half, some Blues supporters were spotted leaving Stamford Bridge after they felt they had seen enough and didn’t expect Chelsea to get anything from the game.

Following Chelsea’s comeback, Gary Lineker, pundit Ferdinand and Blues defender Reece James were quick to hit out at the fans heading for the exits early, saying they were wrong to turn their back on their side.

“Yeah you can’t walk out,” Ferdinand said.

“The spirit that’s within this stadium at the moment and this club, the way that these young players have responded to, and all the other players really, have responded to Frank and the new management team that have come in, you can’t come out of this stadium, even at 4-1.

“They’re fortunate, the two sendings off maybe. But when they got them they really took the ball by its horns and the game was taken then from Ajax.”

Gary Lineker added: "We saw fans walking out at 4-1 and they must have said 'what did I do? Why did I leave?' when they got home."

"It just shows you with football you never know. You never give up."

Speaking to BT Sport, James also said: “Yeah it was a big mistake because we livened up in the second half and managed to get back into the game.”