Di Matteo shrugs off claims of player power

Roberto Di Matteo has declared any manager would want the kind of “leaders” he inherited at Chelsea and insisted he had no problem with John Terry barking orders from the bench.

Accusations of player power at Stamford Bridge were made again on Wednesday night when Blues captain Terry was pictured urging Michael Essien to drop back into defence during the club’s thrilling Champions League triumph over Napoli.

That came just 24 hours after Terry had branded claims he and other senior stars ran the dressing room as “complete nonsense” following suggestions they were partly responsible for the downfall of Andre Villas-Boas.