Chelsea s Frank Lampard has revealed his pride at the prospect of leading the team out in Saturday s Champions League final.
Usual skipper John Terry is suspended after his red card during the club s semi-final second leg against Barcelona.
Chelsea will also be without Branislav Ivanovic, Raul Meireles and Ramires due to the trio s respective suspensions, and Lampard also acknowledged that the task of winning will be harder without them.
I ll be very proud to be captain tomorrow. I might take on slightly more responsibility but it won t be much different, he said on Friday.
We re going to miss them hugely. I think all the players missing have been massive contributors this season.
I think Ramires has been our player of the year (and) quite rightly so. He s been fantastic.
Ivanovic is a person you want in any kind of a match like this to dig in.
John Terry s our captain (and) one of the best centre-halves in the world and Meireles has (also) played fantastic.
Saturday marks Chelsea s second appearance in the tournament s final, after losing on penalties in the 2008 edition, and Lampard insisted the club can banish the heartache from four years ago by conquering favourites Bayern Munich in their home stadium.
As a footballer you learn you can t win everything and we have to use Moscow defeat to inspire us tomorrow, he said.
The atmosphere here is already amazing. To be an underdog is not bad if you have belief in yourself.
We always believed in the dressing room we could get back to another final.
At first glance, (home advantage is) a huge benefit for them. They know the dressing rooms the city will be buzzing with their own fans.
But I think when you look a bit deeper into it there s a potential for saying, well, does that up the pressure? Do you want to play a final at your own stadium that you re used to playing in?
The only answer will be after the game and it will go on the result. I m not concerned about it; I m just looking forward to the occasion.
