John Terry: Now Chelsea Must Conquer Europe

Chelsea skipper John Terry believes that the time has come for the Blues to establish themselves as a true force on the European stage after Carlo Ancelotti side captured the club's first domestic league and cup double this season.

The Londoners exited this season's Champions League at the last-16 stage after defeat by their former manager Jose Mourinho's Inter, but Terry has revealed that owner Roman Abramovich has made it clear to the players that Europe should be their priority now.

"There is no doubt in Roman's mind and all our minds - we clearly want the Champions League," Terry said, according to The Sun.

"He said we must get it next season, even though he is delighted with the double, and we're determined to do it."

Chelsea were beaten finalists in the tournament in 2008, losing on penalties to Manchester United in the final in Moscow.

Terry feels it is time that the Blues progressed from being 'nearly men' and turned themselves into European Champions.

"We've come so close over the last five or six years and, at times, have been the best team in the competition, yet haven't gone on to win it," the England defender added.

"If we can add the Champions League to that list, the fans, players, management and Roman would be very happy."

Nicolas Anelka Set To Sign New Contract At Chelsea

Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka is set to sign a new contract with the double winners, according to skysports.com.

The French international's current deal expires in 12 months' time, but the Blues had put talks about a new deal on hold until the end of the season. With the Premier League and FA Cup in the bag, the club has returned to the negotiating table to extend Anelka's stay.

The 31-year old's agent Doug Pingisi has confirmed that discussions have begun and his client looks likely to remain in London

"We are still in talks [about a new deal] and hopefully we will have news soon," Pingisi told Sky Sports.

"He is happy at Chelsea and of course he wants to stay at Chelsea."

Anelka joined Chelsea from Bolton Wanderers in January 2008. He fired in 11 goals to help Carlo Ancelotti's side to the league last season.

Lampard Happy To Take Penalties For England Despite Final Blunder

Frank Lampard has appealed to England manager Fabio Capello to continue to let him take the penalties for the national team, despite missing the target from 12 yards in the FA Cup final on Saturday.

The Chelsea midfielder has been England's regular penalty-taker since taking over from David Beckham in 2005, and his record is pretty good. Since then he has scored five penalties and missed one, against Hungary in 2006. He has also taken part in two penalty shoot-outs – he scored against Portugal at Euro 2004 in Lisbon as England lost 6-5 on penalties, but missed against the same opposition at the 2006 World Cup, when England lost at the quarter-final stage 3-1 on penalties after a goalless draw.

Lampard went up against his England team-mate David James in the Portsmouth goal late on in Chelsea's 1-0 victory, but pulled his shot well wide of James' right-hand post, hitting the keeper's water bottle. The midfielder said: "It was a disappointing penalty to say the least. I actually changed my mind in the run-up which is a bit of a sin. Once you do that, you are probably going to miss and I did. I've taken quite a few penalties against Jamo [David James] in my time and scored a lot in games and in training and sometimes he saves them."

Normally Lampard is one of the most reliable penalty-takers in the Premier League. He scored ten times from the spot this past season, although he suffered a costly miss in December when Manchester City keeper Shay Given pulled off a save in City's 2-1 victory.

Lampard claimed the Wembley miss might actually work in England's favour, as it will ensure that he guards against complacency in the coming weeks. "That kind of thing makes me address it and look at it. When I go away with England I will work on that kind of stuff. Sometimes you need a little reminder of what you have got to do," he said.

Asked if he expects to take the kicks for England this summer, Lampard replied that at least there will be no Didier Drogba trying to take the ball from him, as happened in Chelsea's final league game against Wigan when the Ivorian was desperate to win the Golden Boot. The Chelsea striker went on to score a hat-trick in that game but not before he had spent much of the first half clearly displeased that he had not been given the opportunity to take the penalty.

Lampard said: "I still hope so. Drogba don't play for England so he can't argue with [me taking the penalties]. No, it would not put me off. I've missed penalties for England, I've missed penalties for Chelsea and it comes with the territory.

"It wouldn't put me off. I'm big enough to stand up. I missed and it will play on my mind a little but it will be completely overshadowed by the fact that we won the game and won the Double.

"Thank God it happened in a game that we went on to win. Hopefully it is out of my system now."

England have a dismal record in penalty shoot-outs in international tournaments. They have been knocked out of five major tournaments on penalties, losing to Portugal in 2004 and 2006, to Germany in 1990 and 1996, and to Argentina at the 1998 World Cup. They have won just one, against Spain in the quarter-finals of Euro '96.

Chelsea Midfielder Deco Agrees Deal To Sign For Fluminense after World Cup

Reports in Brazil this morning claim Chelsea midfielder Deco has agreed a deal with Fluminense to sign after the World Cup in South Africa.

Renato Maurício Prado, a columnist for O Globo, reported the deal following discussions between Deco and Fluminense on Monday.

Deco preferred to concentrate on the World Cup before completing the move, in South Africa he could play against Brazil on June 25 for the Portugal national team.

The 32-year-old central midfielder made 23 appearances for Chelsea in the Premier League and Champions League in 2009/2010, scoring two goals.

Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti is keen to bring younger players into his squad next season and the Blues are also eager to get Deco off the wage bill at Stamford Bridge.

Michael Essien Winning World Cup Fitness Race

Ghana midfielder Michael Essien is confident of winning his race against time - and a knee injury - to be fit for next month's World Cup.

The Chelsea ace has not kicked a ball for five months since injuring knee ligaments in January.

He is part of Ghana's provisional list and hints that he could play in a friendly before the tournament starts.

"I have to keep working hard to be fit and I can assure you I am doing that," Essien said on Ghanasoccernet.com.

"Once I am fit I hope to feature in at least one trial match before the World Cup starts.

"I haven't played since January as you well know so I will need games before the real thing starts.

"Even if I don't get any trial games, as long I am declared fit by the medical team then I will be in South Africa for sure."

This means he could play in the Black Stars last friendly against Latvia in Milton Keynes on 5 June before the World Cup starts on 11 June.

Despite his optimism, there are fears that he could miss the tournament in South Africa because of his slow recovery from the injury.

Essien's last run-out in a Chelsea shirt was against Apoel Nicosia in the Champions League in December.

Having recovered from his hamstring tear, he then hurt his knee at the Africa Cup of Nations, but that was only expected to keep him out for six weeks.

It was anticipated he would make his Chelsea comeback in the Champions League game against Inter Milan last month, but his knee continued to swell up and he underwent four lots of surgery inside a fortnight.

Essien is central to Ghana's hopes in South Africa as they face Serbia, Australia and Germany in Group D.

Kevin Prince-Boateng Apologises To Chelsea Midfielder Michael Ballack

Portsmouth midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng has issued a public apology to Chelsea star Michael Ballack after his tackle in Saturday's FA Cup final at Wembley ruled the veteran out of Germany's World Cup squad.

Boateng, who is the half-brother of German international Jerome Boateng but will line up for Group D rivals Ghana at this summer's World Cup, insists that there was no malicious intent in the challenge.

"All I can do is apologise," the Pompey man told Sport Bild.

"I was just too late and I hit him straight on. It looked stupid. I apologized to him twice on the field and now for a third time.

"I am sorry. It was not intentional."

Chelsea Step Aside To Leave Manchester United And Manchester City To Battle For James Milner's Signature

Manchester United and Manchester City are locked in a cross-town race to seal the £24 million signing of Aston Villa midfielder James Milner, according to the Daily Star.

The report states the bitter rivals have been left alone to scrap for the England international's signature after Chelsea pulled out of the race. City are already rumoured to have bid £20 million.

Villa chairman Randy Lerner has already dismissed any talk of a move and has insisted the Midlanders are determined to keep hold of the prospect. The 24-year-old enjoyed a breakthrough season last term as his 12 goals in all competitions saw him become an England squad regular and the Professional Footballers' Association Young Player of the Year.

Sir Alex Ferguson's side can offer Champions League football, while Roberto Mancini's charges only qualified for the Europa Cup along with Villa. However, their superior financial power could still tip the balance in the favour of the Blue half of Manchester.

Chelsea Track Liverpool's Yossi Benayoun To Replace Outgoing Joe Cole

Chelsea appear resigned to losing Joe Cole in the summer but are lining up Liverpool's Yossi Benayoun as a replacement, according to a report by ESPNsoccernet.

Cole has not yet come to an agreement with the Blues over a new deal, with his current contract set to expire, and the Israeli has been lined up to fill the Cole-shaped hole in at Stamford Bridge next season.

A Stamford Bridge insider told Soccernet: "There is no doubt that Yossi Benayoun is highly thought of at the club, and it wouldn't surprise me if he came to Chelsea."

Cole recently said he was not thinking about his Chelsea future until after the World Cup, putting his England chances ahead of any new deal in west London, but it appears the Blues are one step ahead with their interest in Benayoun.

After a season mostly blighted by injury it's no surprise Cole is way down the Castrol Rankings. He comes in at No.1126, making him only the 16th best Chelsea player in the listings.

Michael Ballack Considering Legal Action Against Kevin-Prince Boateng

Portsmouth midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng might have offered his apologies to Chelsea's Michael Ballack for his reckless challenge during the FA Cup final, but that's clearly not enough to satisfy Michael Becker, the German international's agent.

"Every spectator has seen what Boateng did. That was clearly a foul with the intention to hurt Ballack. We are considering taking legal action," said Becker to Bild.

"We are thinking about taking the case to civil court, but criminal punishment is also an option. You can't just intentionally break the rules to hurt your opponent. It's not like a football field is a place where the law doesn't count, unlike what Boateng thinks."

Ballack's agent claims that the influential midfielder could miss out on about €1 million on income from sponsors and bonuses due to his two-month absence as a result of Boateng's reckless tackle.

Lampard: Negatives Into Positives

Frank Lampard believes our exit from the Champions League could have been the turning point for our Double-winning season.

After Jose Mourinho's return to Stamford Bridge left the Blues without a place in Europe, many insisted the side would finish the campaign trophy-less.

But Lampard feels it was the ignition to our season's final few months, as we knuckled down in the business end of the campaign.

'Looking back at that moment, it is probably one of those negatives you turn into a positive,' explained Lampard.

'Maybe if we hadn't lost that game we wouldn't have gone on to win the League.

'And we set the bench mark doing it. We won the League and having not done it for three years now we want to go away, come back and do it again.'

With the Double achieved, there was another point Lampard was keen to make as he looked back on such a successful season.

Carlo Ancelotti's first foray into English football has produced phenomenal results, which are now for all to see in our trophy cabinet.

Any manager who produces such an historic outcome during his first season at a club will obviously be revered and respected in their profession.

But the Italian was overlooked for Manager of the Year, an accolade that instead fell to Harry Redknapp, another manager who moved to a new club but one who had years of experience in the Barclays Premier League.

Lampard feels the situation could have been different: 'People always say Chelsea is a great squad with great players and they expect us to do well.

'That's why the likes of Harry Redknapp win Manager of the Year because people don't quite expect them to do so well but you can't take anything away from Ancelotti what he has done.

'He's up there with the best of the year. He has come here, to a foreign country, he came virtually alone, with only one person from Italy and he has done all this.

'You have to hold your hands up and say it's a success and a job well done. No one can question what we've done this year.'

Now the challenge is for a Chelsea side, who will have seen many of our stars out on international duty during the World Cup, to return fully vitalised for the 2010/11 campaign.

'You want to embrace what you have done at the club and you want to start again,' said Lampard.

'The players have to come back energised, with the same mentality, want to win again, and that's what separates the great teams from the good teams.'

But for now Lampard and his England teammates are concentrating solely on the world's biggest competition in South Africa this summer. And after such a fantastic run-in with the Blues over the last couple of months, Lampard is ready for anything.

'I feel fresh, I feel confident and in the last few months, with the team I am playing with, I have been creating a lot of chances.

'I am seeing a lot of spaces at the moment and I am not scared to take things on, so let's just hope it carries on for the next month or so.

'The goals have been coming thick and fast and I feel very confident, so I will take that mindset into the World Cup.

'Then there's Ashley Cole, who has been out but he's back and firing, John Terry is John Terry, determined to play well, and hopefully Joe Cole's lack of minutes will be a good thing because he will be fresh.'