Chelsea succumbed 6-5 on penalties in Europe's first-ever all-English final. Chelsea also lost the English Premier League title to the Red Devils and the League Cup final to Tottenham.

But Lampard is adamant that the team will bounce back from a season of missed chances.

"I think we'll be back. We're a strong unit and we showed that today," he said.

Lampard already has cemented his place in Stamford Bridge folklore by becoming its highest-scoring midfielder ever with 111 goals. He has been practically ever-present in the Blues' midfield since his 11 million pound (US$22 million) move from the Hammers in 2001.

But while his club performances helped the Blues to consecutive Premier League titles in 2005 and 2006, Lampard has been criticised over his failure to reproduce that form for England, despite 60 caps.

He played in England's unsuccessful Euro 2004 and World Cup 2006 campaigns, bolstering his reputation with the former and damaging it, some say, in the latter.

Lampard has continued to lead his club this season, scoring crucial goals among his total of 21. Still grieving the loss of his mother, who died of pneumonia in April, he opted to play in the Champions League semi-final against Liverpool and scored an injury-time penalty, which he dedicated to her.

It's a courage Lampard has shown glimpses of before.

He answered jeers from some England fans by demanding the ball from captain Steven Gerrard to score a penalty and haul England back into a Euro 2008 qualifier that it eventually lost to Croatia at Wembley last November.

Chelsea's seventh most prolific player notched his 111th goal for the club in yesterday's game, and he confidently converted his penalty attempt in the deciding shoot-out.

Lampard has been linked in the media with a move to Italian Serie A giant Inter Milan, though a club spokesman said before yesterday's final that an approach would not be welcomed.