Roberto di Matteo led Chelsea to a famous
Champions League victory in 2012 - cementing his
status as a club legend.
This week the Italian, who also fired three cup-
winning goals for the Blues as a player, takes on his
former side as manager of Schalke in Europe's elite
club competition.
Here, we take a look at how Di Matteo led Chelsea
from the brink of Champions League heartbreak to
become champions of Europe for the first time in
their history...
Fast starter
Di Matteo first became a fan-favourite with the
Blues' faithful as a player. After signing from Lazio in
1996 for a then club-record fee of £4.9 million, Di
Matteo scored in two FA Cup finals and one League
Cup final – all of which the Blues won – and his
stunning strike against Middlesbrough after 42
seconds in 1997 was the fastest FA Cup final goal at
Wembley until 2009.
Unfortunately for Di Matteo, his playing career with
Chelsea was cut short by a broken leg that forced him
into early retirement at the age of 31 in February
2002. Almost a decade later he would return to the
club, first as an assistant to Andre Villas-Boas and
then as interim manager after the Portuguese was
sacked in March 2012.
Making his mark
One of his first challenges as manager was to
overturn a 3-1 first-leg deficit against Napoli in the
last 16 of the Champions League. In a bid to do so, he
made four changes to the side beaten in Italy,
recalling John Terry, Ashley Cole, Frank Lampard and
Michael Essien to the starting line-up. It was a move
that worked wonders as Lampard and Terry both
scored, along with Didier Drogba and Branislav
Ivanovic, and Chelsea won a sensational game 4-1 in
extra-time.
“I selected a group of players with a lot of
experience, who were comfortable playing with each
other,” explains Di Matteo. “It was one of those
nights that will be remembered as one of the
greatest European nights at Chelsea.”
While the odds were stacked against Chelsea that
night, Terry says the arrival of Di Matteo had given
the Blues the lift they needed at the right time.
“The manager changed and there was just something
that happened,” said the Chelsea captain. “Robbie
came in and he deserves an awful lot of credit for
what he brought to us. There were four or five big
moments from Napoli at home that led us to where
we were [in Munich] and there are little things I look
back on and think 'that was a great touch from him'.”
The road to Munich
Following their dramatic win over Napoli, Chelsea
advanced to the semi-finals after beating Benfica 3-1
on aggregate. They then gained the upper hand
against defending champions Barcelona in the last
four thanks to a 1-0 win at the Bridge, but looked to
be up against it again at the Nou Camp as Terry was
sent off in the 37th minute and the Catalans scored
twice to take a 2-1 aggregate lead.
“Everything that you can imagine that can go wrong in
one game went wrong,” says Di Matteo. “All I was
thinking was let’s not concede one more, we still only
need one to go through.”
Not only did Chelsea not concede again, but they
pulled a goal back before the break thanks to a
sublime chip from Ramires and then secured their
place in the final with a late breakaway effort from
Torres, after Lionel Messi had missed a 49th-minute
penalty.
“It’s difficult to explain the emotions we went
through in that game and what it meant for our
players to be able to go to the final,” explains Di
Matteo.
Final countdown
Chelsea had lost a Champions League final to
Manchester United four years earlier, so, in a bid to
try and relax the players before the game against
Bayern Munich, Di Matteo arranged for their wives
and children to talk and say how proud they were of
their husbands and fathers.
“It was such a nice touch,” says Terry, who was
suspended for the final after his dismissal against
Barcelona. “It was one thing that will never leave me
from that year. Even the younger players in the
dressing room had their parents speaking and
welcoming them and wishing them good luck.”
“I needed something personal, to touch the players,”
explains Di Matteo. “Also, I wanted to take a bit of
pressure away from them and it did exactly that.”
The final turned out to be a tense affair that was
ultimately decided on penalties following a 1-1 draw
after 120 minutes. The early advantage was with
Bayern after Juan Mata missed but Cech denied Ivica
Olic and Bastian Schweinsteiger hit the post, allowing
Drogba to beat Manuel Neuer to secure victory for
Chelsea.
“That group of players deserved that success because
they had been so successful at Chelsea,” says Di
Matteo. “That was an immense moment of their
career to finally win the Champions League.”
Di Matteo’s reward would be a two-year contract at
the end of the season but he would only see out four
months of it as he was sacked in November. Almost a
year later he was appointed manager of struggling
Schalke, and is sure to get a rousing reception from
the travelling the support on Tuesday nigh

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#OneDiMatteo

^^^ Funny Skit!

raumdeuter:
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People get time shar. . . Make pesin siddon dey open millions of parody accounts just to troll? Retards everywhere. . .

SailorXY:

so Mata should be a guaranteed starter because? is he to displace Daley Blind now, or how has Blind's name gotten into the equation? his position is ocupied by the captain of the team for now & there's not much Mata can do about it. he gets his time & starts, which has been fair by way, and he is not complaining because he knows the fight on his hands to make the front-line.

United are struggling with a patched squad every week, & its only normal players find themselves reshuffled




note: chelshit did nothing against this same Mu-Mu squad not too long ago

In the same way De Gea's name got into the equation. Any just why is this same Mu-mu side struggling?
At any rate, we did what we wanted to do to you guys. The EPL table don't lie.

And yes, we did to you guys want we wanted to do. Just look at the table.

FBS:


In the same way De Gea's name got into the equation. Any just why is this same Mu-mu side struggling?
At any rate, we did what we wanted to do to you guys. The EPL table don't lie.

And yes, we did to you guys want we wanted to do. Just look at the table.

pfffffft

FBS:


In the same way De Gea's name got into the equation. Any just why is this same Mu-mu side struggling?
At any rate, we did what we wanted to do to you guys. The EPL table don't lie.

And yes, we did to you guys want we wanted to do. Just look at the table.

what did you do? you mean chelsea wanted a draw from the outset even before kick-off? was that why JM brought in mikel?

SailorXY:

pfffffft

precisely.

coogar:


what did you do? you mean chelsea wanted a draw from the outset even before kick-off? was that why JM brought in mikel?

you tell me.

barackohandso:

Mourinho pours scorn on Chelsea's Champions League win under Di Matteo

I smell jealousy!

barackohandso:

Mourinho pours scorn on Chelsea's Champions League win under Di Matteo

But his own where Paul Scholes legit goal was disallowed or the one where Militoscored an offside goal was through hardwork?

Make he try use hard work win his own with Chelsea na, At least he was given more money and time than Di Matteo

barackohandso:

Mourinho pours scorn on Chelsea's Champions League win under Di Matteo

Are you spreading a virus? Can a mod get this last post off the thread? If you need to post a link mate, make it a Uniform Resource Locator. Anything else is down right inappropriate.

Ibime:


I smell jealousy!

You really think Mourinho is jealous of Di Mattheo?

nateevs:


Are you spreading a virus? Can a mod get this last post off the thread? If you need to post a link mate, make it a Uniform Resource Locator. Anything else is down right inappropriate.

Does it really matter if it's a URL or not? The message is the most important. Even you know it's not a virus

Why do peeps have to make the headlines of articles tell a different story from the article itself?!

There's was no jealousy or whatsoever there.
In short ' Jose said Chelsea won the CL in their most diffilcult season(finishing 6th)'.

barackohandso:

Mourinho pours scorn on Chelsea's Champions League win under Di Matteo

This is the height of self-glorification & discrimination...

When fans of teams outside your league starts trolling you, then you are doing something right

Is that not Totti kicking it at 38?? Nigerian players retire at 34


Not my business tho

Dhellake:
When fans of teams outside your league starts trolling you, then you are doing something right

Gbam! 1000 likes

Fūck Goal.com!!!

A win away to a Schalke 04 side managed by
former hero Roberto Di Matteo will guarantee
Chelsea’s progress into the Champions League
knockout stages with a game to spare.
While the Premier League has been plain
sailing, performances in Europe have not
always quite been up to scratch for the Blues,
although they still top the section with two
wins and two draws. The latest of them away
to Maribor left manager Jose Mourinho critical
of his side for a below-par showing.
The Portuguese has also warned that this
clash will not be simply a battle between
himself and Di Matteo, the only man to lead
Chelsea to victory in this competition, but it
will still be intriguing to see who comes out
on top in the tactical battle.
Schalke sit second in Group G and would move
to within touching progress of the last 16 if
they can triumph here, for all of their
inconsistency, which included a rollercoaster
two games against Sporting Lisbon. It has
been a similar story in the Bundesliga, with
three wins and two defeats since Di Matteo
took charge, leaving them in seventh place.
Their task here will be made harder by the
absence of Julian Draxler, who misses out
along with Jefferson Farfan and Sead
Kolasinac. Chelsea have no new injury
problems, but Loic Remy could feature after
recovering from injury.

We might just need to send Fab to rehab soon.

That nigga is addicted to assists

One just gotta admit it, this team would need some real stopping.

Schalke not finding the space to do real damage.

Phucking sweet build-up.

Willian doubles our lead, 0-2 It is.

When was the last time Chelsea lost to a German side?

GOOOALLALALALA

AirborneLacer:
When was the last time Chelsea lost to a German side?

Prague

raumdeuter:


Prague

Yea.. But not in the Champions League..


[size=30pt]MUNICH[/size]

Chelsea Last Defeat came just 3 years ago.. 2-1 loss to Bayern Leverkusen.. November 2011.. and we latter won the competition..

Kirchoff is an amazing header

Goooooooallllllll

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