In Defeat Heynckes Urges Di Matteo

Despite facing his own uncertain future Bayern Munich coach Jupp Heynckes called on Roman Abramovich to give Roberto Di Matteo a three-year contract after Chelsea secured Champions League glory for the first time in their history.

After presiding over a startling upturn in fortunes following Andre Villas-Boas' dismissal in February, Di Matteo still doesn't know if he is going to get the job on a permanent basis. 

Heynckes sees no reason for further delay.

Heynckes admitted his side had no-one to blame but themselves after dominating throughout the 120 minutes.

However, after taking the lead through Thomas Muller with just eight minutes remaining, Bayern allowed Didier Drogba to level in the final minute.

Then, after Arjen Robben had a penalty saved by Petr Cech in extra-time, the customary German efficiency in shoot-out situations failed them as Drogba scored the winning spot-kick to secure a 4-3 triumph.

'Chelsea played the way we thought,' said Heynckes. 'We must blame ourselves for having so many goalscoring opportunities without being able to score until the 83rd minute.'

Heynckes also confirmed he expected Franck Ribery to shrug off the injury that he sustained in a tackle by Drogba that earned Bayern their extra-time penalty.

The Bayern coach also cleared Robben of any responsibility, the Dutchman failing to take one of his side's five penalties following his earlier failure. 

'You can understand if he didn't score the penalty in extra-time that he may have lost some self-confidence to participate in the penalty shoot-out,' said Heynckes. 'That is quite easy to see.'

"My team played an outstanding match against opponents who played the way we expected and the way they'd played for the last few Champions League matches. We must blame ourselves for having so many opportunities without profiting. When you score in the 83rd minute you need to keep that lead; then we had a penalty in extra time. Penalties are a lottery, we know that from history.

Chelsea were the lucky team today; they played the way they know best and I'd like to congratulate them on their performance. They put on a real fight, defensively they were very well organised and in the shoot-out they had the luck to win the Champions League. It's a very bitter defeat. We can't blame Chelsea for playing their game; when you have so many opportunities you have to take advantage of them. We didn't do that today and that's why we lost.

These players had a huge fantasy about winning the Champions League here in Munich and then you have such a renowned, experienced player [Bastian Schweinsteiger] missing a penalty – that's something you have to cope with. Bastian was instrumental in getting us to the final and he'll take some time to get over it, but that's football and you have to learn to cope with that.

I said it would be something else to play in your own stadium, where you know everything and feel at home. The team played like we were at home, look at the statistics – we were better in every respect. The players delivered an outstanding performance and were not rewarded. But it wasn't an injustice – we should have scored more goals and kept a clean sheet after we scored, then we would have won the cup. Instead all we can do is congratulate Chelsea."