4/30/2008 5:59 PM
Grant: I Did It My WayChelsea boss Avram Grant felt that he has vindicated himself as Blues manager after leading the London side to their first ever Champions League final after the 3-2 win over Liverpool on Wednesday at Stamford Bridge...
Grant offered his thoughts on his side's 4-3 aggregate win, and some personal reflections, too.
The Sky interviewer began by putting it to Grant that since he was the first Blues boss to take his side to the Champions League final, he must be, like Jose Mourinho, a special one.
"There is only one special one," laughed the manager.
"But I am very, very happy, of course. Every time one can create history it's something special here in England, especially in Chelsea, especially after what we've done this year, and especially against Liverpool.
"I mastered a fantastic team. Rafa played tactically - you need to be very clever against him as they know how to make things. But we did it, so I'm happy."
Second Half Woes, Lampard's Bittersweet Joy
He was asked if the game was slipping away from his side in the second half.
"Yes, but you know it's reasonable. Even the second half of yesterday - Man United - when you lead one nil and you know that you need the gain, even then we didn't say to the players 'draw back'.
"We didn't start well in the second half, but we recovered well and won the game.
"Lampard? I say all the time: football is not modern football. The way to accept accidents is to be human, and what happened here is human more than football," he said.
"Frank played very, very well in my opinion - he was one of our key players today. It wasn't easy for him due to you know what, and I respect that he gave everything to the team. I don't know what to say."
Personal Reflections
Grant fell to his knees at the end of the game. What was going through his mind?
"I saw it on television, and it's a bit embarassing," he laughed.
"But today it's Holocaust day, I don't know if you know, in Israel, and I honoured the name of my grandfather, who died in the Holocaust... so it was very emotional.
"From one side, today, I'm the manager of a team that created history, but on the other side it's a day that's not easy for me, and especially for my father, Mayer, who I love very much - he's 80 years old - so I did what I did."
Road To Moscow
Manchester United will be next up in the final.
"How confident am I? They're a great team - they have a great manager in Alex [Ferguson - but we have time to prepare," he added.
"I hope that we can do what we did in the league. We did what we needed to do, and what happened in the English league will maybe happen again."
Does he feel the fans have faith in him now after the 'Avram who?' jibes?
"We create history and I'm very proud that I did it my way," he said.
"I don't like to say 'I', but it's time to say thank you to all of this club, from the owner Roman - he created this club - to my staff, who are an excellent staff, my assistant, physio, everybody that's part of the creation here.
"Why wasn't Roman here? I don't know. You'll need to ask him. Roman's independent, he's a very nice guy, but he has his own thinking."
