Chelsea sacks Di Matteo

Manager Roberto Di Matteo has been sacked by Chelsea after just eight months of being in charge.

Di Matteo won the Champions League and FA Cup as caretaker manager last season and was given a two-year deal in June.

But just hours after a 3-0 defeat to Juventus, which has left the Blues on the brink of a Champions League exit, he has left Stamford Bridge.

"The club will be making an announcement shortly regarding a new first-team manager," a statement said. 
Owner Roman Abramovich, who is looking for a ninth manager since taking over at Stamford Bridge in 2003, is known to be a long-term admirer of former Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola.
However Guardiola's willingness to end his sabbatical from football is not known and Abramovich has made contact with former Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez to measure his interest in taking charge on a short-term basis.
The club's Russian benefactor made contact with Benitez before Tuesday's defeat in Italy as he assessed his options.
After an impressive start to the season, the Blues have won two of their last eight games.
They are third in the Premier League table, four points behind leaders Manchester City, who they host at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

Even by Chelsea owner Roman Abramovic's sky-high standards, the sacking of Roberto Di Matteo is uncalled for. This is the manager who won the Champions League and FA Cup in May. Chelsea's statement claims results and performances have not been good enough and yet only a month ago they were top of the Premier League after an outstanding 4-2 win at Spurs. The decision makes it even more abundantly clear that Di Matteo was only keeping the seat warm for the first love of Abramovich's footballing life, former Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola. the bone of contention remains being whether the Russian Money bag will be able to lure Pep with the instability in the club.

Chelsea could become the first Champions League holders to exit at the group stage of the competition.

The club statement continued: "The team's recent performances and results have not been good enough and the owner and the board felt that a change was necessary now to keep the club moving in the right direction as we head into a vitally important part of the season.


Di Matteo took full responsibility for the defeat in Turin, which means Chelsea will be knocked out if Juve draw away to Shakhtar Donetsk on 5 December.
He said: "If anyone has to take blame, it's me. I selected a team I was convinced would win or at least draw."
When asked whether he needed a vote of confidence from the club's owners he added: "No, I don't need that. The fact they put trust in me in the summer, that's enough for me."
Former West Brom and MK Dons manager Di Matteo, 42, who had been working as assistant manager at Stamford Bridge, replaced Andre Villas-Boas in March.
The ex-midfielder won the FA Cup twice and made 175 appearances during his spell for the blues between 1996 and 2002, and took over as boss in the wake of Chelsea's 3-1 defeat to Napoli in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie.

 

But they overturned that deficit with a 4-1 win at Stamford Bridge and secured a 2-2 draw at Barcelona in the semi-final second leg despite having John Terry sent off in the first half at the Nou Camp.

After beating Liverpool 2-1 in the FA Cup final, they beat Bayern Munich in a dramatic penalty shoot-out in the Champions League final.
They finished sixth in the Premier League and Abramovich waited until June to give Di Matteo the job on a permanent basis.
And after the arrivals of Eden Hazard, Oscar and Victor Moses, they suffered just one defeat in their opening 12 matches before the recent downturn.
Although Chelsea enjoyed an impressive opening to the campaign, Di Matteo faced constant questions about Terry, who was banned for four matches and fined £220,000 by the Football Association for racially abusing QPR defender Anton Ferdinand last October.