May his wish be Grant-ed
Chelsea coach Avram Grant insisted his side can bounce back from losing out on the Premier League title and get revenge by beating Manchester United in the Champions League final on May 21.
United regained their English crown with a 2-0 victory over Wigan on Sunday that capped a memorable last day of the season, leaving Chelsea to settle for the runner's-up spot after a stuttering 1-1 draw at home to Bolton.
Chelsea must now lick their wounds, regroup and hope that captain John Terry, who was stretchered off with a dislocated elbow after just 15 minutes of action on Sunday, will have recovered for the trip to Moscow.
Grant said the all-English showdown -- Chelsea's first appearance in Europe's showpiece final -- was a "dream."
"It is a game we have been dreaming about being in," he said. "When you come to the final you want to win. We wanted to win the league as well but it wasn't ever in our hands."
Grant said he would adopt a "wait and see" approach on Terry, despite the fact the England centre-back vowed after the match that he would make a full recovery in "three or four days."
"I am waiting to see the day that John Terry is not confident," Grant said with a smile.
"If you look at it from the point of view of character I am sure (he is OK), but we also need to wait to see if he is fit to play. But we have time, we have 10 days."
Andriy Shevchenko will have high hopes of playing a role in the Champions League showdown after the Ukrainian came on as a substitute and scored Chelsea's only goal, stabbing in from close range.
"I was happy for him because maybe we will need him in Moscow," Grant said.
He admitted Shevchenko, who has rarely started a match in the 2007-2008 campaign and appeared at times a fading force, had experienced "a strange season."
Despite being pipped to the post by United, the dour Israeli reflected that he felt "proud" after his first season in charge at Chelsea, a role he took on mid-campaign from Jose Mourinho in an appointment greeted with disdain by most Chelsea supporters.
"It was not easy this season, there were many, many good things... we had a very difficult time sometimes.
"We didn't start very good and then we played good football and then our big players got injured. We recovered very well with very good football so we can be proud."
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