Cesc Fabregas: Chelsea were lucky to win Champions League... like all good sides

No one should begrudge Chelsea their moment of Champions League glory, says Barcelona's Cesc Fabregas – even though the Londoners put in two performances that were widely criticised as ultra-defensive when they eliminated Barça in the semi-finals.

Speaking last night in the build-up to Friday's Spanish Cup final, the former Arsenal midfielder said destiny dictated that Chelsea won in Munich.

Fabregas said: "People say they did not deserve it but when it's your year, it's your year. It's like when Andres Iniesta scored the goal against Chelsea in the last seconds at Stamford Bridge the year we won the treble. Or the year United did the treble when Peter Schmeichel saved Dennis Bergkamp's penalty in the last moments of the [1999] FA Cup semi-final.

"Chelsea had some luck but all the teams that win it need that, and you can only congratulate them."

Fabregas believes English teams will continue to play a big part in the Champions League. He said: "It says a lot for the Premier League that they have five or six teams that can beat anyone in the world, and next year it will be even worse. It will be tough for the rest."

On the situation of two possible Barcelona targets, Gareth Bale and Robin van Persie, he said: "As a fan of Arsenal, nothing would make me happier if he became the first captain to lift a trophy in eight or however many years it is for them."

Bale is interesting Barcelona as they look for a new left-back but Fabregas said: "He is a very powerful and very attacking player with an incredible explosion of pace but I think he is more a winger than a full-back."

Bayern Munich: The penalty was not all Schweinsteiger missed

Bastian Schweinsteiger has apologised to Germany's president for failing to shake his hand after Bayern Munich's defeat by Chelsea in the Champions League final.

Schweinsteiger missed Bayern's last penalty in the shoot-out before Didier Drogba scored with Chelsea's final shot.

Photos showed Schweinsteiger walking past as the president, Joachim Gauck, held out his hand but the player said he had felt "paralysed" after missing the penalty and "at that moment, after this great disappointment, I noticed nothing around me any more ... I didn't see the president's hand."