Chelsea legend Roberto Di Matteo has revealed what it felt like to replace Andre Villas-Boas in the middle of their iconic 2012 Champions League-winning season.
Villas-Boas was sacked in March after his Chelsea side followed up a 3-1 defeat in the Champions League last 16 first-leg against Napoli with a 1-0 loss to West Brom in the Premier League, which left the Blues off the pace in the fight for fourth. Squad selection had become a real issue, with many high-profile names unhappy with the Portuguese manager’s teams.
Villas-Boas’ assistant, Roberto Di Matteo took over on an interim basis, with the Italian tasked with bringing the feel-good factor back to Stamford Bridge. He quickly managed that, beating Napoli 4-1 in the return leg to reach the quarter-finals, galvanising a side that had come so close before in Europe but just missed out.
Chelsea players were given just one more chance to win Champions League
Ultimately, Di Matteo led Chelsea to not only the Champions League trophy, but also win the FA Cup as well. His interim spell yielded huge success, with his motivating words driving the squad on.
“I’d been assistant to Andre Villas-Boas until his sacking,” Di Matteo exclusively tells FourFourTwo. “It had been a difficult season, as a lot of younger players had been brought in with the idea of taking the club into a new era.
“Things didn’t work out and I was asked to step up to be caretaker manager. The Champions League had been one of the few good spots, so I pulled the team together and said, ‘Look, guys, this is going to be one of the last chances many of you will get to win this – seize this opportunity.’
“It was still a great team: John Terry, Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, Petr Cech… We created an atmosphere that this was our last chance. That carried us to glory.”
Having overcome Barcelona at Camp Nou in dramatic fashion, Chelsea were without key players in Terry, Branislav Ivanovic and Ramires due to suspension, with Ryan Bertrand stepping in to make his Champions League debut on the left-wing in the final. Not that Di Matteo was worried.
“I didn’t need to motivate my players [for the final]; they had given everything to be there and they knew what it meant to the club to have this opportunity,” he adds.
“Bayern Munich were a brilliant team, of course, but something about my players that night made me believe that something incredible was about to unfold.
“The game, the penalty shootout – everything was so tense, but I believed. It’s a memory I’ll never forget.”
