Di Matteo confident Blues will progress

Roberto Di Matteo reacted calmly to Gareth Bale’s claim Tottenham were better than Chelsea and vowed to pick his strongest line-up in the clubs’ FA Cup semi-final.

Spurs winger Bale lit the blue touch paper ahead of tomorrow’s Wembley showdown when he declared his side would win because “we have the better team”.

But caretaker manager Roberto Di Matteo said: “We respect his opinion and we’ll see on Sunday. Obviously, I don’t agree with him.”