Champions League: Chelsea can beat Barca says Di Matteo
- Published
Di Matteo 'very excited' by Barca challenge
Chelsea interim first-team coach Roberto di Matteo insists they can come up with a plan to beat Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final.
Barcelona stand between Chelsea and a place in the final in Munich in May after the Blues completed a 3-1 aggregate win over Benfica with a 2-1 victory at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday.
And Di Matteo insists Chelsea are not daunted by the prospect of facing the Champions League holders and tournament favourites in a repeat of the controversial 2009 semi-final,, external when Andres Iniesta's stoppage-time goal at Stamford Bridge put Barcelona through.
Di Matteo said: "It will be exciting to play two games against one of the best teams in the world. We will find a strategy that will suit our players and our team to face Barcelona.
"It will be a combination of playing to our strengths and being aware of theirs.
"They obviously have some individual players who are a big threat and that are very dangerous but we have to play our game and play to our strengths."
Chelsea felt they were unfortunate to be knocked out by Pep Guardiola's side in 2009 and complained bitterly about a succession of decisions made by Norwegian referee Tom Ovrebo.
Di Matteo added: "We have faced them a lot of times over the years and a lot of our players have some history against Barcelona and they certainly felt they were a bit hard done by when they played against them three years ago.
"It is going to great to play two games against them. We are looking forward to it and very pleased to be in the Champions League semi-final."
Benfica coach Jorge Jesus felt his team were unfortunate to go out.
He said: "We have been the best team in Lisbon and London. I am very proud of my men.
"We played with 10 men for the best part of an hour and we were still the best team. We made Chelsea look ordinary."
One negative for Chelsea was an injury to captain John Terry.
The 31-year-old had to be replaced in the 59th minute by Gary Cahill.
"He got a knock on his rib and that's why we had to take him off," Di Matteo said.
"We'll assess him tomorrow and see how he is. We hope that he is going to be OK."