Di Matteo confident of glory night

ROBERTO Di Matteo believes Chelsea are good enough to win the Champions League as he stands on the brink of leading them to arguably the greatest victory in their history.

Barely seven weeks since taking charge and less than seven days after masterminding a semi-final first-leg win over Barcelona, caretaker manager Di Matteo arrived at the Nou Camp last night determined to complete the job. Chelsea have been written off this season, something that prompted Di Matteo to hit out at their critics after Saturday’s Barclays Premier League game at Arsenal.

And he was adamant yesterday evening they have what it takes to end their agonising nine-year wait for Champions League glory since Roman Abramovich bought the club.

“We do have the qualities within this team,” he said. “I think we need away from home, as we’ve seen in the past, a bit of luck to be able to do well in a competition like this. But, certainly, the quality and the squad we have is very good.”

Di Matteo has been praised and condemned in almost equal measure for placing such an emphasis on defence in the 1-0 first-leg win and he defended those tactics again last night.

“You have to utilise the strengths of your players, and see what the weakness of the opposition is,” he said.

“I respect other people’s opinion, but I disagree with them.”