Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic says manager Roberto di Matteo didn't inform his players of their potential bans ahead of their Champions League triumph in Barcelona.

The big Serb has revealed that keeping the Chelsea players in the dark about any possible ban was part of interim boss Di Matteo's winning strategy against the reigning champions.

He said: "No one told us because they didn't want to disturb us or put more pressure on us by making us think about yellow cards.

"Of course, you have to be disappointed not to play the final, but if you tell a player before the game then maybe the player will be thinking about not going into certain challenges to protect himself.

"But this is done and we can't think any more about it."