Kevin-Prince Boateng passed a late fitness test but missed a second half penalty in Portsmouth's painful 1-0 defeat to Chelsea on Saturday in the FA Cup final at Wembley.
Reports on Friday said the 23-year-old would miss the tie due to an ankle injury and failed to was not on board the team's coach that travelled to London on Thursday.
Boateng could have handed Portsmouth an early lead in the 56th minute after Aruna Dindane was felled in the box but his spot-kick hit the stretched legs of Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech.
His blunder was matched by Frank Lampard in the closing seconds for the FA Cup winners.
Chelsea struck the posts five times in the first half before Didier Drogba deservedly scored three minutes later.
The Blues, chasing their first League and FA Cup double against their near-bankrupt, relegated opposition, had become the first elite club to score more than a century of goals in the championship since Tottenham Hotspur in 1963.
Chelsea's first double meant Italian manager Carlo Ancelotti had finally smashed through the ‘glass ceiling’ which had been the legacy of Jose Mourinho’s reign.
Mourinho may have been The Special One but he was never special enough to win the Premier League and FA Cup in the same season.
For Portsmouth in defeat, oblivion beckoned. Two years ago they had won the FA Cup but within a year came first hints of how success had been built on fool’s gold and financial disaster swiftly followed.
Very few of these players who lined up at Wembley will be around next season following their penury-riddled relegation down into the Championship (second division).