Ribéry ready to end Bayern's waiting game

"It is something I have been waiting for for a long time." Given the dejection FC Bayern München have suffered in recent UEFA Champions League finals, such words about lifting the European Cup could easily be attributed to any number of Jupp Heynckes' squad.

Beaten by FC Internazionale Milano in 2010 and, agonisingly, on penalties by Chelsea FC in their own Fußball Arena München last season, Bayern have a score to settle when they take on Borussia Dortmund at Wembley on Saturday. Franck Ribéry was suspended for the first of those defeats and had to watch the spot kicks from the bench, having been substituted in extra time, 12 months ago. He speaks for all of his team-mates when he says: "We hope that this year will be our year."

"It has been two finals now, even if I didn't play in the first one, but I played last year," Ribéry, who has appeared in all but one of Bayern's 12 matches in the competition this term, told UEFA.com. "We were so close to winning it, but we didn't."

With Bayern very much Europe's nearly men in 2011/12 – they also finished runners-up to Dortmund in the Bundesliga and German Cup – this season could yet heal the wounds of that trophy-less campaign. Having reclaimed the league title in record time, and in some style too, Heynckes' men take on VfB Stuttgart in their domestic cup showpiece a week on from what they hope will be a triumphant evening at the home of English football.

"It was a good and bad year for us, because we didn't win any titles in the end, so we were sad," said Ribéry, 30. "This year we wanted to have a very good year and we managed to have a great season in the league. We won everything, almost every game. We broke a lot of records as well. Now we are in the Champions League final again and this time we hope we will win it."

Click on the video player above to hear the full interview with the French international.