Soccer:Roberto Di Matteo admitted Chelsea must avenge tonight's Champions League defeat at Shakhtar Donetsk in two weeks time if they are to avoid one of the shortest defences of the trophy.
The European champions crashed to a 2-1 defeat to Shakhtar as John Terry’s return to the side went awry at the Donbass Arena to leave them facing a real fight to qualify for the knockout stage.
Previous holders have never failed to do so and Di Matteo acknowledged Chelsea now had to win their home games against Shakhtar and Nordsjaelland to maintain that record. “We need to win our two home games remaining for sure,” the Blues boss said.
“The consolation tonight is that Juventus drew in Denmark. It just shows how the Champions League is a very competitive competition. But certainly, we need to win our home game against Shakhtar.”
Di Matteo’s men were almost completely outplayed, their outstanding opponents punishing them with goals early in each half from Alex Teixeira and Fernandinho before Oscar bagged a late consolation.
“They’re a very good side,” Di Matteo said of a team that had never lost at home to English opposition and had not been beaten at all for exactly 11 months.
“The early goal helped them massively and it’s always difficult when you concede such an early goal in a big game like that. It did unsettle us a little bit as well and, (in the) first half, we never really got into our rhythm.
“In the second half, we came out better and started to get into the game and controlling the game a little bit more. And then we got caught in possession on halfway and they punished us with the second.
Di Matteo admitted Chelsea did not defend well enough, although his game plan went out of the window when Frank Lampard’s record 100th European appearance for the club ended after just 15 minutes.
The midfielder suffered a recurrence of the calf injury that kept him out of England’s World Cup qualifiers against San Marino and Poland and which now threatens to sideline him for Sunday’s top-of-the-table Barclays Premier League showdown with Manchester United.
“We have to wait until we have a scan to assess the extent of his injury. He was training with us fine and there were no alarm bells before the game. We started Frank, and with Ramires on the right, to try to control the midfield better.
“You find yourself 1-0 down and you have to make a change because of an injury. I thought it was the right choice to put on (Eden) Hazard and I think it was a question of us being too individualistic in our pressing in the first half and too long and too stretched as a team, and that conceded space to Shakhtar. Then, you’re chasing two goals and the game becomes very open.”
