Chelsea defender Ryan Bertrand has admitted that he was surprised at being picked to start the Champions League final on Saturday.
The 22-year-old was part of the Blues team that recorded victory over Bayern Munich, despite the fact that he had not been in Chelsea's Champions League squad before Christmas.
"When the manager told me I was playing, of course I could hardly believe it, but I knew what I had to do. I'm still waiting for someone to pinch me now. I tried to relax and go to sleep in the afternoon but had all these images flashing through my mind," he told Sky Sports News.
"I was getting all these flashbacks, too, of when I was a kid, growing up in South London, in Peckham, in Bermondsey, tough places, playing against the wall with my mates. I spent time at so many clubs, I wondered at times where my career was going, but I never gave up.
"Ashley Cole has been such a massive help to me too. All the way through. It was great being out there with him, he kept his eye on me. The atmosphere was amazing. Bayern fans outnumbered the Chelsea fans and it wasn't 50-50 in there, there was more like 70% of them, against us, but we stuck in there together and won it. It's just incredible."
Bertrand has just 15 Chelsea appearances to his name.
Matt Law
