Champions League: Chelsea will meet a familiar head, The Roberto Di Matteo


Less than two months after his arrival to the Schalke bench, Roberto Di Matteo will meet Chelsea tonight at the 5th day of the Champions League, the club he led to victory in 2012 before being sacked six months later.

Roberto di Matteo doesn’t give way to feelings that could alter the preparation and jeopardize the chances of a German club that gave him a new chance after crossing the desert. But tonight  will still be special  when he will meet Chelsea and its veterans. 'I don't think much about it, to be honest,' said Di Matteo. 'All the people remind me of it, but I'm a person who looks to the future and doesn't live in the past. Those are the things I can influence” he stated, 'The past is there for everybody to see but I look forward. You can interpret it as you want. I'm more forward-looking than past-looking.” insisted Di Matteo after Saturday victory over Wolfsburg (3-2) allowing the Ruhr club to be in the 7th national ranking before playing his game on the European stage.

Schalke is second in this group G, 3 stepts under The"Blues" of Jose Mourinho but with only one step ahead of Sporting Lisbon, with which the Gelsenkirchen club shared the wins, and two in Maribor, in the pursuit of the ticket for the knockout. "In this is a group results remain open, where anything can happen, and we want to take at least a point at home," said the Chelsea former player, who must do at least as well as its predecessor Jens Keller. He had brought the draw (1-1) in London, the first of five points earned during the first 4 days of C1. The confidence of the group has been strengthened by reaching halt the run of eight consecutive wins Wolfsburg, current Prime dolphin of Bayern Munich.

 "If I played against him, he would win because he played better than me"

It's always good for the morale. We must now try to remove all positive to continue to progress, "said the mischievous with the smart face, particularly encouraged by the defensive granted by the collective effort to contain the onslaught of Wolfsburg. He remained elusive, however, on the renewal of 5-3-2 accompanied by good offensive output in the sides as Christian Fuchs, causing the third goal, giving the win last Saturday.

Like Schalke, Chelsea comes with a victory in the pocket, against West Bromwich (2-0) on Saturday, allowing the Blues to protect their status of “Unbeaten” and consolidate their rank as a leader of the Premier League. From London, Mourinho, the man with two European coronations (Porto 2004 and Inter Milan 2010) refuted any idea of reducing the game to a conflict with Di Matteo. Although his Italian rival succeeded where he, the "Special One", failed on his first visit to Stamford Bridge (2004 to 2007), "Don't ask me to speak about him," Mourinho said when asked about the former Blues midfielder. "The history is the history -- he was on the Chelsea bench when Chelsea won the Champions League and he is a historic name in this club. I have nothing more to say.


Roberto Di Matteo was a special name for Chelsea’s fans, his problem was the immediate future concerned his recent past, and his chance to remind Abramovich of his qualities. Could his team be the first to beat Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea this season? 

0 comments:

Post a Comment