The England midfielder's late spot-kick earned Jose Mourinho's side a 1-1 draw on the night at the Camp Nou, but in truth they never looked like overhauling Barcelona who led 2-1 on aggregate and 1-0 on the night courtesy of some Ronaldinho magic.
Needing to score at least twice to progress, the Blues never really clicked and when the World and European Player of the Year struck with 12 minutes remaining it always looked a tall order for the Blues to bounce back.
Starting with just Didier Drogba up front, it wasn't until Hernan Crespo and Eidur Gudjohnsen came on in the second half that Mourinho's men carved out any clear-cut opportunities.
Crespo prodded a Jose Cole cross just the wrong side of the upright in the 64th minute, but then it was left to Ronaldinho to crush Chelsea's dreams as he rode the challenge of John Terry before lashing home a powerful low shot from the edge of the penalty area.
With Lampard out of sorts in midfield and Arjen Robben often left to wander infield, it was Barcelona who always looked more likely to carve out an opening.
But with one minute of the two allotted for stoppages already played the referee awarded Chelsea a dubious penalty when Gio van Bronckhorst was adjudged to have caught Terry in the box.
Lampard nonchalantly stroked home the penalty but by then he - and the rest of the Chelsea players - knew that the time was up both in this match and on their Champions League challenge for another season.
It could have been a different story if Drogba had headed anywhere other than straight at Victor Valdes after 20 minutes when meeting a Lampard free-kick, while Robben also tested the keeper with a cross-shot on the stroke of half-time.
But on the night and over both legs there would be few that would argue with the view that Barcelona were the better side and deserved to progress to the quarter-finals.
For Chelsea it's back to the drawing board and for Mourinho surely he will now invest in his lightweight strikeforce after wrapping up another Premiership title in the coming weeks.