Crespo happy in Milan

Hernan Crespo has reiterated his desire to remain at Milan.

Crespo has been on a season-long loan at San Siro from Chelsea after Jose Mourinho decided he was not needed at Stamford Bridge this term.

Mourinho still has admiration for Crespo and he may still have a future with the Premiership champions next term, and the Argentine would be willing to try again in West London if called upon.

"I'll be very happy if Milan want me to stay," Crespo told The Independent.

"But it's something I don't have control over. I'm very happy here. I've lived here in Italy for many years, Milan is a place I know very well, but if I have to go back to Chelsea it would be no problem for me."

Crespo is keen to defend his spell at Chelsea, saying that personal and physical problems hindered his progress, and he seems determined to prove that he is a top class striker.

"Look at the numbers of goals and the quality of goals [for Chelsea]. Then you have 19 games and 10 goals. That's not too bad. And there were some good goals, too. So, I am happy with that. But I always want more and I wasn't able to do more and that's my one regret. Mentally, I wasn't able to do more.

"I'd been in Italy for many years before that and I had some quite serious personal problems.

"Also I did have physical problems which needed certain treatment which maybe I wasn't able to get in England.

"The other thing is that I joined Chelsea when the championship had already started and so I missed out on the pre-season training. I believe it's no coincidence these physical problems occurred. This season, for example, I've not had any problems at all."

Crespo seems to have a point as he has banged in 15 goals for Milan this term, including two goals that knocked Manchester United out of the Champions League.

Also, Carlo Ancelotti's side have made the final while their opponents, Liverpool, saw-off his parent club Chelsea in the semi-finals, where Jose Mourinho ironically resorted to lumping Robert Huth up front late on at Anfield due to a lack of cutting edge from his strikers.

Despite all this, Crespo is just revelling in making the showpiece final of the season, and is not focusing on showing Chelsea what they are missing out on.

"It's an historic game in a player's career," added Crespo. "It's one of the opportunities that you want to have, one of those things you want to have next to your name.

"The last word I would ever use is revenge. I'm very relaxed about things that have happened in the past and I am very pleased that people can see me playing well now and being fit and healthy.

"But I'm not thinking about revenge. I'd be just as pleased performing in any big game, whether it's against Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Liverpool or whoever."

Despite The Reds being firm underdogs against the classy Italian side, Crespo knows they will face a tough game in Istanbul.

"They defend very well, and [Rafa] Benitez is a good coach, so we have to look at ways of breaking them down."