Guardiola loses his cool while Di Matteo keeps faith

Barely seven weeks since taking charge and less than seven days after masterminding an astonishing semi-final first-leg win over Barcelona, the Blues’ caretaker boss Di Matteo arrived at the Nou Camp determined to complete the job.

Chelsea have been written off this season and even before that, something that prompted Di Matteo to hit out at their critics after Saturday’s Barclays Premier League game at Arsenal.

And he was adamant last night they have what it takes to end their nine-year wait for Champions League glory since Roman Abramovich bought the club.

“We do have the qualities within this team,” he said.

“I think we need away from home, as we’ve seen in the past, a bit of luck to be able to do well in a competition like this.

“But, certainly, the quality and the squad we have at Chelsea is very good.”

Di Matteo has been praised and condemned in almost equal measure for placing such an emphasis on defence in last Wednesday’s 1-0 first-leg win and he defended those tactics again.

“You have to utilise the strengths of your players, and see what the weakness of the opposition is,” he said.

“I respect other people’s opinion, but I disagree.”

An ultra-defensive formation runs a huge risk of one of Chelsea’s players picking up a yellow card – or worse.

With four of their likely starters one booking from a suspension, there are places in the final on the line in more ways than one.

“I don’t think we can be thinking about that in the game (tonight),” said Di Matteo, who looks set to start Branislav Ivanovic, Ashley Cole, Raul Meireles and Ramires.

“The players will be playing fully focused on their task and their responsibilities in the game. We cannot speculate on the bookings.”

Of more concern to Di Matteo is the fitness of Didier Drogba, who was the match-winner last week and proved a thorn in Barcelona’s side.

Drogba trained last night after missing the Arsenal game with a knee injury and Di Matteo said: “I’ll assess the physical and mental state of my players.

“I’ll make the team selection (this morning), so I can’t tell you what it’ll be.”

Drogba would boost Chelsea’s chances of scoring an away goal which would leave Barca needing to net three.

“I do think we’ll have to try and score a goal,” Di Matteo said.

“That would give us a greater chance. I think it’ll be difficult just playing for a goalless draw.”

Real Madrid arguably showed Di Matteo the way, with Saturday’s 2-1 victory at the Nou Camp in what could prove the Primera Division’s title decider.

“You cannot take another team and another manager, with the team we have,” Di Matteo said.

“We have to look at the players who will play (tonight) and try to get the best out of them, and play to the qualities of our team.”

Chelsea’s recent success has been built on returning to their core values that begin with solid defending.

That has been led by John Terry and January signing Gary Cahill and Di Matteo said: “We’re very pleased with the way our defenders have been playing lately.

“We’ve been able to defend very well, keep some clean sheets.

“We’ve been positively impressed with Gary since he came to the club.”

Di Matteo’s counterpart Pep Guardiola last night hit out against Barcelona’s critics in a tense press conference.

Guardiola cut a frustrated figure at the Nou Camp, where his selection and tactics were questioned.

The Barca manager took particular exception to a Spanish journalist probing him on his decision to start Cristian Tello against Madrid.

Guardiola responded with a long rant as he defended his selection decisions, saying: “He played a f****** good game. I mean, most of the dangerous chances were created by him.”

The Spaniard was curt in some answers and rambling in others during a lengthy press conference, which he brought to an abrupt end by walking out.

Guardiola, though, earlier insisted he was not feeling the pressure due to the trust he had in his players to perform.

“I don’t know if this is the most important moment of my career as a coach, but I have always faced these challenges with a lot of optimism as I believe in my players and team,” he said.

“Whenever you have a defeat, the day after the match you feel a little low but afterwards you get faith in the facts and I am optimistic because I know them well and that we will work hard.

“We try to cover everything that is important so we just try and do that. We will analyse the challenge and I think we have had other challenges over the years. I cannot really tell you if this is the most important challenge of my life.”

Barcelona’s chance of overhauling the deficit against Chelsea has been boosted by Lionel Messi’s fitness.

The reigning world player of the year missed training on Sunday but returned yesterday in an open media session at the Nou Camp.

Gerard Pique also trained and Guardiola batted away talk of a rift with the Spain international, who has been left out of the past two matches.

“There is no problem at all,” added Guardiola. “He has had an injury for a long time.”