Di Matteo: Chelsea vision big step for Pep

Roberto Di Matteo has cast doubt over whether Barcelona’s culture could be exported to another club after Pep Guardiola suddenly became available for the Chelsea job.

Less than three days after being outwitted by caretaker Blues boss Di Matteo in the Champions League semi-final, Guardiola yesterday confirmed he was quitting as Barca manager at the end of the season. Although he announced he planned to take a sabbatical, speculation is rife Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich will try to make him an offer he cannot refuse.

Abramovich is said to have long craved the concept of ’Barcelona in blue shirts’, identifying Guardiola as the perfect manager to deliver that vision.

But Di Matteo said: “History tells us it’s difficult to replicate the culture of a club into a different club.

“He [Guardiola] might be the first one to do it. But if you look back at history, it seems as if it’s been different.”

Di Matteo, who admitted he deliberately did not tell his players which of them were one booking away from missing the Champions League final ahead of their sensational victory over Barcelona, paid tribute to Guardiola, who has won a jaw-dropping 13 trophies since 2009.

“What a coach and a manager he is,” he said. “He’s a great guy, a young man as well with many years ahead of him.

“I think he’s a role model as a coach for every young manager, what he has achieved in such a short period of time.

“I’m not sure anyone else can replicate that.”

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said he was disappointed to see Guardiola leave the Catalans, saying: “It comes as a surprise to me because when you make a decision after a big disappointment like he has had in the past week, it may not be the right moment to make this decision.

“The philosophy of Barcelona has to be bigger than winning or losing a championship.

“Guardiola is one of the representatives of this philosophy and made this philosophy triumph so I would have loved him, even going through a disappointing year, to stay and come back and persist with his philosophy. That would be interesting.”