Champions League

Cole aims to erase memory of Paris Champions League final

14:54 BST, Thu 15 May 2008
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Liverpool's Steven Gerrard (C) controls the ball in front of Chelsea's Florent Malouda (L) and Ashley Cole (R) during their English Premier League soccer match in Liverpool, northern England August 19, 2007. REUTERS/Phil Noble (BRITAIN).

By Martyn Herman

LONDON, May 15 (Reuters) - Chelsea defender Ashley Cole is determined not to endure a second Champions League final disappointment next Wednesday in Moscow having been reminded of his first every time he arrives at training.

The England left back was in the Arsenal side that lost to Barcelona in the 2006 final in Paris when Juliano Belletti, now his team mate at Stamford Bridge, scored a late winner.

"Before the game, nobody expected (Arsenal) to win," Cole told reporters this week as he prepared for the season's finale against Manchester United in the Russian capital.

"We had so many young players, we had a man sent off, went 1-0 up, should have been 2-0 up but then Belletti comes along and scores -- which I hear about all the time!

"Hopefully, he'll get another one of those 'lucky' goals."

Having gone so close two years ago, the England fullback is desperate to get his hand's on Europe's biggest club prize.

"I don't want to be in the same situation as last time and lose," said Cole, one of two players in the Chelsea team to have lost a Champions League final, the other being German Michael Ballack.

"I try not to think about (Paris) too much -- but now I have got the chance to wipe all that out by getting a winners' medal this year."

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