ROBERTO DI Matteo will send his Chelsea players into the Allianz Arena against Bayern Munich tonight urging them to grasp their opportunity to make history and claim the club’s first European Cup.
This will be the last game of the interim coach’s 11-week spell in charge following the dismissal of Andre Villas-Boas, with his future at the club beyond the expiry of his contract on June 30th unclear.
Di Matteo and his players are now attempting to make up for painful near misses in this competition over recent seasons.
“I believe my players have all the qualities you need to win this competition,” said Di Matteo, who stressed that Villas-Boas, too, deserved praise for setting Chelsea out en route to the final.
“Those qualities have taken us to this stage and I’m very positive and very confident now. I don’t know what the future will hold but we can win it. We have to believe we can and have the confidence to do so.”
Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea have featured in six semi-finals in the past nine years but have only once previously progressed into the showpiece, with eight of the squad who will be involved tonight having been involved in the defeat on penalties to Manchester United in Moscow in 2008.
“It’s taken us a long time to get back but we always believed we had the quality to come again,” said the stand-in captain, Frank Lampard.
“We would only get a sense of reprieve if we go on to win. Being underdogs, playing Bayern Munich in their own stadium, fills you with even more determination. The fact they’re the home team is a great challenge for us: bring it on.”
The England midfielder, who will captain the team in the absence of the suspended John Terry, praised Di Matteo’s impact. “He’s been very clever in how he’s managed the situation,” he said.
“We were struggling for confidence on the pitch, and rather than come in and make drastic changes, he spoke to everyone individually and created confidence in the group. We got some early wins, the Napoli game changed everything, and from then on he’s quietly done a perfect job. If anyone deserves to win this game, it’s him.”
Jupp Heynckes would become the fourth manager to claim the Champions League with two different clubs if his team prevail having already steered Real Madrid to the trophy in 1998, though he was dismissed at the Bernabeu after claiming that club’s first European Cup in 32 years. Di Matteo could yet face a similar fate.
The Chelsea boss is considering the radical move of handing Ryan Bertrand a first Champions League appearance. He is wary of the considerable threat posed by Robben and Franck Ribery out wide, but has found his options limited by suspensions and a hamstring strain sustained by Florent Malouda, who only returned to training last night at the Allianz Arena and will be reassessed at the team hotel this morning.
Bayern will employ Anatoliy Tymoshchuk or Daniel Van Buyten alongside Jerome Boateng at the heart of their defence in place of the suspended Holger Badstuber, with fears over Arjen Robben’s fitness allayed. They will begin the match as favourites having won 14 of their past 15 European matches at home.
