John Obi Mikel believes beating Everton in the FA Cup Final will help heal the wounds of yet another season of Champions League pain.

Mikel and his team-mates were frustrated spectators last night as Barcelona - who were seconds from being knocked out in the semi-finals by the Blues - beat Manchester United in Rome to be crowned European champions for the third time.

Such were the agonising circumstances surrounding Chelsea's defeat by Barca that the Wembley meeting with Everton was seen as an irrelevance by some fans. Yet Mikel insists the need to end the two-year wait for a trophy makes success against David Moyes's team as important as anything Chelsea might have achieved in Europe.

The Nigerian said: "If we win it, it will bring back a little bit of hope to the club and to the players. It will wash away the pain we felt in the Champions League, so we have to make sure we win. A trophy is a trophy.

"We always want to make sure we win everything - it doesn't matter what competition we're in, we love winning trophies. If the FA Cup is the one we're going to get this season, it's fine."

With Chelsea boss Guus Hiddink resuming full-time control of Russia after the Final, the Blues squad are determined to give the Dutchman the perfect leaving present.

When Hiddink took over on a temporary basis following Luiz Felipe Scolari's sacking in February, Chelsea were a club in a disarray and in danger of missing out on a top-four finish to secure a place in next season's Champions League.

But Hiddink has overseen a remarkable turnaround. Under his guidance, Chelsea won 11 of their last 13 Premier League games to end the season third, only seven points adrift of champions Manchester United, and reached the FA Cup Final and the Champions League semi-finals.

Carlo Ancelotti is expected to leave AC Milan early next week to take over from Hiddink, but Mikel warned the Italian: "Whichever manager comes in will have to follow what Guus has done. Guus has done really well for the club. Every manager has his own system and his own idea of how he wants the team to play, and we have to make sure we adapt again to that new style. But we have to win the Cup for this manager."

The only injury doubt Chelsea have for Hiddink's Wembley swansong is utility player Juliano Belletti, who has only just started jogging again after a recovery from a virus.

Meanwhile, Portuguese stars Deco and Ricardo Carvalho could be leaving Stamford Bridge to link up with former boss Jose Mourinho. The Inter Milan manager claimed he would be signing some of his compatriots during the summer, "though not necessarily from Portugal" and it is thought the Chelsea duo are on his radar.

Deco said: "I won't deny that there is contact, but nothing is defined.

"It's a solution which I welcome, of course, and it would be a pleasure to be back with Mourinho, but I don't want to go into details, because it's not me who's dealing with the matter."