Legends
Roberto Di Matteo
- Name
- Roberto Di Matteo
- Years at Chelsea
- 1996–2002; 2012
- Position
- Midfielder / manager
- Honours
- FA Cup: 1996–97, 1999–2000 (player); 2011–12 (manager)
- League Cup: 1997–98
- UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup: 1997–98
- UEFA Super Cup: 1998
- UEFA Champions League: 2011–12 (manager)
Roberto Di Matteo arrived from Lazio in the summer of 1996 for £4.9 million, a club record at the time. In his first home game he scored a 25-yard winner against Middlesbrough. It was only the start.
As a player he did something you rarely see: he scored in three Wembley finals. In the 1997 FA Cup final against Middlesbrough he scored inside the first minute. In the 1998 League Cup final he scored the second goal. And in the 2000 FA Cup final, the last at the old Wembley, he scored the only goal against Aston Villa. In all, 175 games and 26 goals.
A triple leg fracture in a UEFA Cup tie against St. Gallen kept him out for months. He never played again and retired in February 2002, aged 31.
In 2011 he returned to Chelsea as assistant manager, and in March 2012, after André Villas-Boas left, he took over as interim manager. The team won the FA Cup against Liverpool, knocked out Barcelona in the semi-final and on 19 May 2012 in Munich won the club’s first Champions League. He was dismissed later in 2012, but that spring belongs to him for ever.
To supporters ‘Robbie’ is the man for the big occasion: as a player he scored in finals, as a manager he won them.
Sources
- Chelsea FC — Di Matteo’s big blue moments (debut, the 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2012 finals)
- Wikipedia — List of Chelsea F.C. players (175 apps / 26 goals)
- Wikipedia — Roberto Di Matteo (move from Lazio, injury, early retirement, spell as manager)
- Wikimedia Commons — Roberto Di Matteo.jpg (photo: Christophe95, CC BY-SA 3.0)
