by Rebecca Hughes

A former Medway schoolboy has lifted the Champions League trophy on only his 13th start for Chelsea FC.

Left-back Ryan Bertrand played in the biggest game in European club football on Saturday, when Chelsea stunned Bayern Munich in a dramatic penalty shoot-out at the Allianz Arena to win the European title for the first time.

Speaking after the game, the former Robert Napier pupil, said: "It’s crazy. I’m still waiting for someone to pinch me now. I just can’t believe it. I think it’s still settling in, but I’m sure it will in the morning."

The 22-year-old, who started his career in the Gillingham FC youth team, was set to be on the bench, but ended up making his first Champions League appearance after boss Roberto Di Matteo took a gamble by playing him out of position against Bayern Munich.

Bertrand said: "I‘d like to think the gamble paid off, at least with it we managed to win the trophy.

"I didn’t want to go out and let anybody down because I was starting, especially the manager and the coach who have been putting their faith in me."

Bertrand, who had only one Chelsea appearance to his name a year ago, played the first 72 minutes of the match before being substituted.

He joined the club from Priestfield in 2005 for an initial fee of £125,000. Since then he has been out on loan to a number of other clubs, racking up more than 100 appearances in the lower divisions, before breaking into Chelsea’s first team this season.

Speaking about working with the team, Bertrand said: "The boys have been fantastic.

"They have made me settle in really well, especially working with Ashley [Cole] on the left – it managed to go really well. He is a massive inspiration to me and I’m learning what I can from what is the best left-back.

"They’re telling me it’s not going to get much better than this though."

Yesterday, an elated Bertrand joined the rest of the Chelsea team on an open-top bus procession from Stamford Bridge.