Lampard on missed chances

And emotional Frank Lampard was in a highly dejected mood after his side Chelsea lost the UEFA Champions League final to Manchester United 6-5 on penalties on Wednesday night in Moscow. He did give the credit to Man United but at the same time he rued the chances that his own side missed during the course of the match.

The match finished 1-1 after extra-time with both sides enjoying good spells during the match. Manchester United were the better side in the first which ended 1-1 but it was Chelsea who were the dominant side in the second period but failed to make their chances count.

Chelsea misfielder Frank Lampard scored the equaliser against Man United towards the end of the first half. He said after the match:

"Beyond cruel? Yeah, it was. This is the Champions League. United done it ten years ago by winning in the last minute, and I think we dominated the game.

"Credit to United, though - they took control of the first half an hour of the game and could have gone more than one-nil up, but after we woke up, we got playing after half an hour, look at how many chances we had. We hit the bar and the post.

"We were the stronger team for sure. We were on the driving seat in penalties and then John slipped - it's very cruel, but that's football.

"How's John taking it? You can see him out there - he's Mr. Chelsea. He's Chelsea through and through, the captain. He wants it more than anyone at this club.

"I just want to say that not many centre-halfs will take a fifth penalty. That's testament to his character and nobody at Chelsea at all will criticise him for that. At the end of the day it's a game of football, John's the man, what's done is done... we'll be back."

Similar sentiments of returning were echoed by Chelsea manager Avram Grant.