Bayern Boss Urges Roman to Offer Di Matteo a Chelsea Contract

Bayern Munich manager Jupp Heynckes has urged Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich to offer the club's interim Champions League winning manager, Roberto Di Matteo, a permanent job.

Di Matteo, who guided the Blues to their first ever Champions League win after beating Bayern 4-3 on penalties (1-1 after extra time), is still in the dark regarding his future with the club. Heynckes, who earlier won the Champions League with Real Madrid in 1998, feels Stamford Bridge officials should rush with a three year contract for Di Matteo's outstanding contribution to the club.

''I congratulate Chelsea on their victory. If you wish me to say something about Roberto Di Matteo it is that Chelsea should give him a three-year contract," ESPN quoted Heynckes as saying.

As for the game itself, despite dominating most of the game, Bayern, like Barcelona earlier, failed to take the opportunities that came their way and Heynckes admitted his side had no excuses.

"Chelsea played the way we thought. We must blame ourselves for having so many goal scoring opportunities without being able to score until the 83rd minute," the Daily Mail quoted the German boss as saying. The 67 year old German boss also said he did not blame Dutch forward Arjen Robben for not taking a penalty in the shoot-outs after he failed to score one in extra time.

''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. That is quite easy to see," he said, according to a report in the BBC.

Meanwhile, Di Matteo refused to make a comment about his future at Stamford Bridge after Chelsea were given the prestigious European trophy.

''I'm enjoying this moment and I'd just like to go out and celebrate with the players. I won't talk about it now. I just want to enjoy the moment," ESPN quoted Di Matteo as saying. The 41 year old boss, who has taken Chelsea from dismay to glory, later said he wanted to take a break before discussing his Chelsea future.

"I feel great. But I need a holiday because these last three months have been very challenging. At this moment, whatever the future holds for me is irrelevant," he added.

Finally, the former West Ham boss said Chelsea won the trophy because of a great effort and a never-say-die attitude in the game.

''We have a group of players that have a big heart, passion, motivation and desire. That was the only way to be able to achieve this trophy. It's been an immense effort by the whole group - staff, players - and we are very happy tonight," the Guardian quoted Di Matteo as saying.

The Blues, who will be parading their trophy on the streets of West London in a open-top bus, are expected to be greeted by tens of thousands of Chelsea fans, when they set out, on Sunday at 4 pm local time; details are available here, at the club's official Web site.