However, Mourinho’s agent, Jorge Mendes, is hoping to earn the Chelsea boss a three-year extension said to be worth up to £5.2m (€7.6m) a year – an increase of £1m (€1.4m).

No imminent announcement is expected but Chelsea are keen to bring a conclusive end to any recent internal differences after Mourinho was frustrated by the club’s failure to appeal against his two-game UEFA touchline ban.

While Mourinho’s new salary could eclipse even Lampard’s, the midfielder is simply relieved that his manager is intending to stay put at Stamford Bridge.

“It’s very encouraging. We love the manager, I think he loves us and the fans love him,” the 26-year-old said.

“We’ve been successful so far and even though we haven’t completed the season, we’re going in the right direction. We want him to stay and we hope that he does.”

It is rare in football for managers to be paid more than leading players but Lampard would not begrudge Mourinho a lucrative wage rise, even if he joked “how many goals has he got this season?”

As for earning more than himself, the free-scoring England midfielder added: “That would be a good contract, I’ll tell you! But he’s very important for us, he makes a big difference.”

So too does Lampard himself, with his two goals and all-round performance against Bayern Munich having inspired Chelsea in Mourinho’s enforced absence.

However, Lampard still credited Mourinho with having laid all the groundwork for the 4-2 first-leg triumph in their Champions League quarter-final clash against the German side.

“We’d had all our meetings in the past few days so it was all wrapped up by lunchtime before the game,” he revealed.

“Him not being at the game didn’t make any difference at all. We’ve got strong personalities in the team and when you go out there, you don’t rely on the manager, you rely on yourself.

“He prepared us as well as he possibly could do and he’s got a strong squad behind him, with Steve Clarke and Baltemar Brito, while Rui Faria, the fitness coach, is very vocal.”

Faria was more vocal than most fitness coaches tend to be, although Chelsea insisted there was no flouting of the rules forbidding Mourinho from making secret phone contact with his assistants.

Joe Cole added: “There were no instructions passed on that I know of and we prepared well in the week to do the job. It was a bit different without the manager but it wouldn’t have been a punishment if it wasn’t.”

Chelsea have nevertheless learned to show strength in adversity this season, with a virtual siege mentality having bonded the squad together amid criticism of their manager and their tactics.

John Terry, who had urged the fans to show their “love” for Mourinho, added: “They responded quite well, which was great.

“The lads are fully behind the manager and support everything he does. We get the same back from him – everything we do, he supports. We need to stay united and stay together as a squad.

“The manager just said it was down to us. We’re all big enough personalities to have our say before the game. The lads rallied round and we got ourselves together.”

Eidur Gudjohnsen added: “We’re a team, we’re a unit. It would take a lot more than that to break us down. We’re mentally very strong.”

Michael Ballack’s controversial late penalty, pulling the scoreline back to 4-2, left Bayern with hope of a comeback in Munich.

Lampard was therefore not taking a semi-final place for granted just yet, even if he admitted his hope that Chelsea could still face Liverpool, who hold a 2-1 lead over Juventus.

“A two-goal cushion is great, but we won’t under-estimate Bayern as we know that they beat Arsenal 3-1 at home, which would be enough to go through,” he concluded.

“It would be a nice idea to play Liverpool in the semi-finals. Of course it’s possible as we’re both got leads from the first leg.

“But both of us have got tough games away to massive clubs so we’ll have to see. We’ll both have to be at our best to get there.”