Lampard adds to the case for Di Matteo
ROBERTO Di Matteo was failing to plot the downfall of Scunthorpe in the League One playoffs the last time Chelsea and Barcelona collided in Champions League orbit.
MK Dons drew at Glanford Park four days after Andres Iniesta had silenced Stamford Bridge, then lost on penalties after another draw in Milton Keynes.
Three years on and Di Matteo can start work on another managerial examination, one which has proved beyond some of the finest managerial minds of the generation.
Stop Barca? Not easy, granted. Yet pass it somehow and Roman Abramovich might have to start thinking of removing the somewhat insulting ‘interim’ prefix from the manager’s official title.
What point must Di Matteo ( right) pass before he becomes a credible permanent successor to Andre Villas-boas in the mind of the owner? Is winning the Champions League enough? What about reaching the final?
Frankly, who knows what’s in the mind of the owner? It’s nine years since he uttered a public word and doesn’t appear to be on the brink of a policy change.
But there is a case taking shape for Di Matteo and this victory over Benfica, albeit after a nervy second leg last night, adds to it.
The 41-year-old Italian has important credentials for the job other more decorated candidates don’t. There is experience in the Barclays Premier League, something which caught AVB out, and Di Matteo knows how it feels to be a big-name player in the Chelsea dressing room, testing the mettle of a young manager. Few in the stadium paid attention when someone decided to dust down old footage from epic games against Barcelona and replay it on the big screen 25 minutes before kick-off.
Silver-shirted Barca trotted out at the Bridge on a night Di Matteo and Pep Guardiola started among the substitutes.
They will be back on the same bench in a fortnight, duelling for a place in the Champions League final and extending what has become a modern football rivalry.
Such encounters are seldom dull, as it proved three years ago on a night when referee Tom Henning Ovrebo etched his place in Chelsea folklore by turning down four penalty appeals.
The pre-match images showed Chelsea dashing into an improbable 3-0 lead over Barca in 2000, with a goal from Gianfranco Zola, two from Tore Andre Flo and a shavenheaded Italian manager punching the air in delight.
Last night, Di Matteo stood where Gianluca Vialli had 12 years earlier, cutting a similar figure, allowing himself a small gesture of triumph when Frank Lampard settled a few nerves with an early penalty.
He looks the part, if it counts for anything, and it seems to in an age where the manager is the public image of this club and rarely off TV.
There are no gymnastics from the Villas-boas repertoire. Where AVB lunged, twisted, skipped and twirled to cope, his replacement barely shifts, arms folded firmly as the floodlights reflect in his shiny black leather shoes.
This distant manner is a more natural fit for a manager and it is clear Di Matteo is more suited to the No.1 role than the No 2. Perhaps he may even be more suited to the No 1 role at a big club like Chelsea rather than at MK Dons or West Bromwich Albion.
Those who criticised his early work never failed to mention his arrogance but self-assurance and a thick skin are valuable assets when you control international superstars.
Where it can cost you influential friends in League One, it can earn you respect in the Premier League.
Occasionally, Di Matteo will break from his isolation to yell instructions, offer encouragement or put two fingers to his mouth and whistle but the explosion of joy and the euphoric pitch invasion which followed the fightback against Napoli was absent last night.
At the final whistle, he clapped three or four times, shook the hand of Benfica boss Jorge Jesus and slipped away to attend to his postmatch duties.
Unlike the thrill of Napoli, this had been an exhausting spell in the nerve shredder. Instead of inspiring belief, this exposed the self-doubt and nervous disposition which Di Matteo has worked to eradicate.
Had Javier Garcia’s goal come 10 minutes earlier, it may have been Benfica crossing the Iberian Peninsula for a Champions League semi-final in Barcelona. As it was Chelsea clung on, Raul Meireles grabbed a decider on the break and Di Matteo can start working on the ultimate managerial examination.
Thus far, one of his eye-catching improvements has been to mix up his team selection depending on the strengths and weaknesses of the opposition, while trying to keep players fresh.
His decision to go with Fernando Torres in Lisbon against Benfica’s sluggish central defenders worked well but, with Luisao and Jardel missing last night, the mobility of Torres was matched by Garcia, switched from midfield to fill in.
How Di Matteo copes with Barca is a different proposition, and Jose Mourinho was not slow to wade in and write off Chelsea’s chances. It is probably part of Mourinho’s mind games with Guardiola, designed to help his friends at the Bridge.
Di Matteo will take on the European champions with low expectations, such has been the dominance of Barca and the progress of Lionel Messi since they were last at Chelsea in 2009.
But there are tiny chinks this year, with Guardiola’s future unclear and a close race with Mourinho’s Real Madrid at the summit of La Liga.
Nobody expects Di Matteo to succeed but what is there to lose for an interim manager after his journey from Scunthorpe to Barcelona?
m.barlow@dailymail.co.uk