ROBERTO DI MATTEO has said next week’s mouth-watering visit of Barcelona in the Champions League will not serve as a distraction for his players, or unduly influence his team selection, as Chelsea try to force passage beyond Tottenham Hotspur tomorrow and into a fourth FA Cup final in six seasons.
The interim first-team coach must contend with a daunting fixture list over the next 10 days starting with tomorrow’s confrontation with Spurs, with the two semi-final ties against Barca, the reigning European champions, sandwiching a trip to third-placed Arsenal in the Premier League.
Di Matteo, who is also charged with restoring Chelsea to the top four, will juggle his squad with his team’s three-pronged challenge in mind but intends to select his strongest possible line-up at Wembley to set an upbeat tone for the period ahead.
“This is a massive game for the players, the team, the club and all our supporters, a big, big game for us,” said the Italian, who has yet to lose to Tottenham in five matches as a Chelsea player and two on the club’s coaching staff.
“Nobody will have Barcelona at the back of their minds, I assure you. We are going to be focused on the FA Cup to try and reach that final. We are going to play this match to the best of our ability and strength and we’ll draw more strength from that. We will do whatever it takes for us to reach the final. We’re not going to throw anything away, absolutely not.
“We have good, experienced players who are used to these big occasions, so that’s an advantage for us. For them it won’t be a nervous game because they’ve been involved in so many semi-finals and finals. That level of experience will help us.
“But I’m only looking at the team for Sunday, not next week. We’ll think about what’s best for this game and how we win this game. We will be doing our upmost to get to the final. A good result on Sunday will be very good for the players and the team and for everyone involved. After that we’ll take on the next challenge. A positive result will be very good for us psychologically.”
The stand-in manager, who won two FA Cups as a player with Chelsea and scored the last Cup final goal at the old Wembley stadium in 2000, suggested John Terry will be available as he continues to recover well from two fractured ribs – “they’re in a good way and time helps to heal,” said Di Matteo – though he may still be tempted to partner Gary Cahill with David Luiz.
“Everybody wants to play and there’s a good feeling around the place. This competition means a lot to Chelsea and we have a good history in it.
“It’s a tradition-rich trophy, well known all over the world, and it’s prestigious to be able to win it. That’s what we want to try and do and for me it’s a dream to be taking the club I played for to a semi-final at Wembley.”
Di Matteo actually broke ranks in the build-up to the semi-final by speaking publicly about Harry Redknapp’s candidacy to replace Fabio Capello as England’s head coach.
“He’s a great manager,” said the 41-year-old.
“He’s been in the football industry for so many years and has built a nice team at Spurs. He looks like he’s going to be the new England manager and I think he fully deserves the chance to be able to lead his country.
“A lot of them [Chelsea’s England players] know him very well and the general consensus is the players all like him.”