SOCCER:SUPPORT FOR Roberto Di Matteo to be appointed Chelsea's permanent manager is building among influential figures within the club and in the dressing room after the caretaker's extraordinary success continued with him leading the team into the Champions League final.

The Italian is a little over eight weeks into his role as interim first-team coach following the dismissal of Andre Villas-Boas. And in that time he has steered the side into an FA Cup final against Liverpool and, courtesy of Tuesday’s remarkable performance in Barcelona, the club’s second European Cup final.

Di Matteo, who was initially secured as one of Villas-Boas’s assistants on a rolling one-year contract, was asked to oversee the team until the end of the season and does not anticipate any change to that initial arrangement, meaning he will go into the showpiece in Munich with his future still effectively undecided.

Owner Roman Abramovich was not in Catalonia and intends to assess the situation in the summer once it is clear whether Chelsea – who have generated at least £45 million in television revenues alone from their European run – have qualified for next year’s Champions League, either through their Premier League finish or by winning the trophy in Munich.

Other potential high-calibre candidates are likely to be available after the European Championship, including France coach Laurent Blanc, while vanquished Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola is still highly regarded by the Chelsea hierarchy.

Di Matteo, who was unemployed this time last year following his sacking by West Bromwich Albion, is content with the arrangement and has enhanced his prospects with his tactical acumen, diplomacy and commonsense approach, earning admirers throughout the club.

“We appointed Robbie until the end of the season and he’s done a fantastic job, but we’ll stick to our word and wait until the end of the season to see where we are,” said Chelsea chief executive Ron Gourlay. “I think that’s the best thing for everybody.”

There was praise aplenty from Chelsea’s players after the game at the Camp Nou, where an improbable 2-2 draw despite the first-half dismissal of John Terry smoothed progress to the final at the holders’ expense.

“The manager has done a great job,” Branislav Ivanovic said. “He changed everything . . . Nobody is thinking as if [the final] will be his last game for us. We’ll wait until the end but, at the moment, everybody is happy with Robbie Di Matteo.

“We are not finished yet – we’re not safe in the league for a place in next year’s Champions League, and we have two finals to play, so there’s still a lot to do. We’ll try to [achieve] everything.”

Di Matteo has overseen 10 wins and only one loss in his 15 games in charge. But he must maintain that momentum to recover Chelsea’s position in the top four of the Premier League – they are sixth with four games to play, one of which is a visit from fourth-placed Newcastle – and secure silverware in the month ahead.

Yet confidence is growing within the club that a campaign that had appeared on the brink of ruin in early March can yield the prize Abramovich has craved most of all. “I can’t speak highly enough of him,” Frank Lampard said of Di Matteo. “Look at our record: what he has done is no coincidence. He has created an atmosphere and got players playing. The camp’s very happy and you can see that in the results. Those results don’t lie.

“It’s a club decision. They will sit down in the summer with him but I can’t speak highly enough for what he’s done so far . . . getting results like at Barca, and others before, has been amazing.”

Asked if it would be impossible to overlook the former MK Dons and West Brom manager’s candidacy should Chelsea go on to claim the European Cup, Lampard said: “Nothing’s impossible. It was impossible to beat Barcelona, but we did that. I don’t know. If we win it Robbie deserves to win it for what he’s done for the club.”

Di Matteo’s immediate task is to patch together a defence to confront Queens Park Rangers on Sunday, with Ivanovic suspended, David Luiz still recovering from a hamstring strain and Gary Cahill awaiting scan results on a similar injury sustained early at the Camp Nou.

“I don’t know how bad it is,” the England centre-back said. “I turned awkwardly and my foot got stuck and I just felt a pop at the top of my hamstring.

“When the ball went in behind and I had to sprint I realised I’d done something to it. I’m just praying it’s not too bad. But to miss these games coming up, my hamstring will have to be absolutely torn to shreds.”