CHELSEA manager Avram Grant congratulated Sir Alex Ferguson on winning his tenth Premier League title and then revealed that captain John Terry has a chance of being fit for the Champions League final.
The London side’s title hopes were dashed by United’s 2-0 win at Wigan and an injury-time equaliser from Matt Taylor as Bolton snatched a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge. Substitute Andriy Shevchenko had given Chelsea hope with a 62nd-minute strike but t
he loss of Terry after 10 minutes with a dislocated elbow now threatens to hinder their Champions League chances against United in Moscow next week.
Yet Grant was both generous in his praise of Ferguson and confident that Terry could win his fitness battle.
“First I want to congratulate Manchester United,” said Grant. “They had a great season and I have sent a message to Alex Ferguson congratulating him.
“He is a great manager and a great person. I like him personally. I wished him all the best. It is amazing what he has done. I remember at the start when he had problems so it is an amazing achievement.
“John did not break his elbow. But we need to wait and see. We will know if he is fit for the final in a few days. He is strong enough to recover but we will wait and see.
“In ten days we play the final so we will take a decision nearer the time. We need to see that he is fit to play. It is firstly the decision of the medical department to see if he can play or not but there is no need to rush, we have time.”
Terry, who returned from hospital to join his team-mates on the pitch at the end of the game, believes he will be fit enough to play after four or five days of rest. But Grant was also concerned about the fitness of Didier Drogba. The striker got a kick on his left knee 10 minutes from the end and the Chelsea manager admitted he was struggling.
“He could not come off because we had used all our substitutes,” said Grant. “He did everything to finish the game. It does not look so good but we need to wait again.”
All eyes are now focused on their showdown with United in Moscow and Grant believes his side have enough power left in the tank. “Getting to the final was our target,” said Grant. “When you get there you want to win it. We want to win it. We wanted to win the league also but it was never, for one minute, in our hands.
“The players gave everything but when they heard it was 2-0 to United, the last ten minutes was for the protocol and then we conceded a goal. But in the last months we have developed our football and the last game of the season in Moscow is one we want to win.
“We need to be very proud of what we have done this year. We didn’t start the league good and then all the big players got injured, then it was the African Cup, but I am very proud of what we did in January and February without our big players. But it is not easy to chase teams all the time.”
After the early blow of losing Terry following a clash with goalkeeper Petr Cech, those listening to earpiece radios passed news of United’s opening goal at Wigan around the ground, hushing the home supporters among the 41,755 crowd.
Shevchenko replaced defensive midfielder Claude Makelele for the second half and, knowing that United were winning, Chelsea attacked relentlessly from the first whistle. The breakthrough eventually arrived when a corner found Shevchenko about five yards out, and the Ukraine striker fired home his first goal since December. However, as news of United’s second goal filtered through, the match at Stamford Bridge was becoming academic, and Taylor compounded Chelsea’s by forcing home a late equaliser.
The club’s billionaire owner Roman Abramovich, missing from Stamford Bridge in recent matches, also paid the team a dressing-room visit after the game and Grant admitted: “We are always happy to see him. He congratulated everybody for what they have done this season. We have finished the league and now we are waiting for a game we have dreamed about. We don’t want to go the final to be part of it, we want to win it.”
The full article contains 765 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
