Chelsea need more help over Champions League campaign, says Roberto Di Matteo
Roberto Di Matteo has accused the Premier League and Football Association of failing to do enough to help Chelsea’s Champions League campaign as he prepares to lead his side against Tottenham on Saturday, 65 hours after facing Manchester City and three days before a quarter-final in Lisbon.
Chelsea are England’s only remaining team in the Champions League after City, Manchester United and Arsenal were all eliminated and Di Matteo feels the fixture list will not help his team against Benfica next week.
He said: “Other federations help their teams to perform as well as possible in Europe. It doesn’t happen in England. Benfica played on Friday this weekend, Napoli played Friday before our two games and it gives them more time to recover.
“We shouldn’t have played City on Wednesday. The fixture list needs to take into account that teams could be through in the Champions League or FA Cup to give them and equal possibility to win.
“There’s no doubt in my mind that City had a slight advantage over us because they hadn’t played on Sunday. In England you become a victim of your success.”
Chelsea could face the same problem if they reach the semi-finals of the Champions League – where they would meet Barcelona or AC Milan – because they are due to play an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley the weekend before.