Di Matteo plots grand finale

For Roberto Di Matteo, being crowned champion of Europe might not be enough.

When the Italian took over as Chelsea’s caretaker manager on March 4, the club was disintegrating at breakneck speed. Fast-forward a little more than two months and Andre Villas-Boas is a distant memory, little more than a raincoat in the annals of history and the days of infighting and mutiny are long gone.

Di Matteo has effected one of the most astonishing transformations in recent footballing memory, resurrecting Chelsea as a serious entity and guiding them past Napoli, Benfica and, most astonishingly of all, Barcelona, to reach tonight’s Champions League final in Munich.