Frank Lampard says England players would have considered defying FIFA’s poppy ban against Spain on Saturday night if the eleventh-hour compromise had not been reached.

The Chelsea midfielder, who will lead England out at Wembley, revealed that the players felt so strongly about the poppy issue that they would have been forced to discuss taking a stand had FIFA not allowed them to wear armbands embossed with poppies.

Captain: Frank Lampard will lead England out to play Spain

Lampard, 33, said: ‘It is a huge thing for us, the Football Association and everyone. You’ve got to give a lot of credit to the people who have pushed to make it happen.

‘I think we would have sat down and had a good think about it because I know how proud we are to play and what an important day Remembrance Day is. We are very pleased it has got to where it has got.

‘As players we do a lot of work with the military boys and, if we were to be running out and not showing our respects, we would be letting them down.

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