Munich: Bayern Munich winger Arjen Robben has spoken of his regret as he missed a vital penalty in the Champions League final defeat to Chelsea on Saturday.
The match had ended 1-1 after 90 minutes but the Germans were handed a massive opportunity to regain control of the match in extra-time after Didier Drogba had fouled Franck Ribery in the box. Robben's spot-kick was weak, however, and Petr Cech dived to his left to save it.
"I can't describe in words how I feel, but it's been a terrible night. Two or three times you feel you have the cup in your hands [during the match], but at the end you stand with nothing." said Robben.
The Dutchman admitted he is struggling to come to terms with not only the disappointment of Bayern failing to lift a fifth European Cup but also the impact of his penalty miss, which he feels may have contributed to his side's eventual downfall.
"It wasn't a good penalty. I wanted to shoot the ball hard and high in the goal, but the ball didn't go high enough. It was a terrible penalty kick. After that, I still played well but you have to change your mindset at that point [after the penalty miss]. The fact that [Didier] Drogba and [Michel] Platini tried to cheer me up was nice, but it's worth nothing. I wanted that cup but it didn't happen." said Robben.
Robben also revealed that Drogba and UEFA president Michel Platini had sent their commiserations to him in the aftermath of the penalty shoot-out, which ended 4-3 in Chelsea's favour.
Meanwhile, Bayern Munich coach Jupp Heynckes said his team had only themselves to blame for failing to lift the trophy for the fifth time on Saturday after dominating against Chelsea but losing on penalties.
Bayern had the upper hand for most of the 1-1 draw at their own Allianz Arena but wasted a bagful of chances and the extra- time penalty by Robben before the English club snatched the top European club trophy.
"This was not about who won in the penalties," Heynckes told reporters. "This was about us not using our chances to win the game. It is purely our fault that we did not use our many chances. My team played an outstanding game against an opponent who played as we expected them to do," said the 67-year-old coach, who won the title with Real Madrid in 1998.
This was the second consecutive season that Bayern were left without any trophies.
They had though looked on track for their first Champions League victory since 2001 when Thomas Mueller headed in for a much-deserved lead in the 83rd minute after the Bavarians played cat and mouse with a defensive Chelsea for much of the game.
"It is difficult to put what we feel into words," a dejected Mueller told reporters. "This is football and we have seen it so many times in the past that it is not always the team that deserves it that holds up the trophy in the end."
Mario Gomez, Mueller and Arjen Robben had earlier come close several times.
Bayern then conceded an 88th-minute equaliser through Didier Drogba, who later brought down Franck Ribery in the first half of extra time for a penalty. But instead of firing the Bavarians back into the lead, Robben saw his spot-kick saved by keeper Petr Cech before the Dutchman refused to take a penalty in the shoot-out.
"We had three match points in this season and we did not convert a single one," said goalkeeper Manuel Neuer after losing the German league and Cup titles to Borussia Dortmund. "If you see the game we played tonight, you would have never thought that Chelsea would walk away as the winners."
Ivica Olic and Bastian Schweinsteiger missed their spot-kicks after Chelsea's Juan Mata, before Drogba scored the winning penalty to send 17,500 English fans in the stadium into a frenzy.
"We just could not figure out how to convert our many opportunities. You have to score because if you don't you will be punished," Heynckes added.
Bayern president Uli Hoeness was equally baffled.
"I have absolutely no explanation as to why we lost," he told reporters. "We scored our goal at a great moment, then we get a penalty and have a superb chance through Olic and then we still can't do it. If you have that many chances, you have to seal the deal."
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