Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka has revealed that he knew he was going to miss his decisive penalty in the Champions League 2008 final and it was all former coach Avram Grant’s fault.

In his upcoming new book Anelka, the striker accused the Israeli of undermining his position at the club, causing the player to lose all confidence during his tenure as head coach.

Anelka will face his former boss when Chelsea take on Portsmouth in the FA Cup final at Wembley on Saturday.

Grant was in charge of Chelsea after Jose Mourinho was fired by club owner Roman Abramovich. However, the Israeli was also asked to leave after leading the Blues to second place in the Premier League and losing the 2008 Champions League final to Manchester United on penalties.

The shootout was best remembered for Blues skipper slipping in his run up to a penalty which would have sealed the trophy for the club if he had scored. Instead, he miskicked and Anelka went on to miss his kick in sudden death.

The French striker has now laid all the blame for the club’s failure to secure the ultimate European prize on Grant and is keen to exact some form of revenge in the FA Cup final.

Anelka maintained that he was regularly played out of position by Grant and made to feel that he should have been “grateful” to have been at the club due to his previous employment at lowly Bolton.

“Grant used to look down on me,” claimed Anelka in the book. “It was as though he felt I should be grateful and not ask for anything. The pretext for this was I had been brought in from Bolton.”

“I set great store by emotions and Grant did not show great confidence in me.

“In the 2008 Champions League final against Manchester United, Grant threw me on as a sub without giving me any warning.

“In the end I messed up the very last penalty in the shootout, which Edwin van der Sar pushed away. It is sad to say but I knew I was going to miss my kick.”

Tags: Avram Grant, English FA Cup, English Premier League, Nicolas Anelka, penalty miss, UEFA Champions League 2008 final