Di Matteo’s risk taking pays off in terrific champions

The interim head coach sprang a surprise by not selecting Frank Lampard, although the omission of Didier Drogba and Michael Essien was less unexpected. Di Matteo explained: "We’ve been playing all these games, and they’re all high intensity, against City, Spurs and tonight was another. It’s just a question of trying to energise the team, freshen up the team. We knew Benfica play at a high tempo so we needed fresh players who could run. That was the reasoning behind it." Di Matteo also said that, managers need to take a “little risk” shown by his selection match-winner Salomon Kalou who, like another starter Paulo Ferreira, had barely featured this season. “You’ll see other players who have played a little less in the past playing more of a role in the future. It’s impossible for us to play every three days and reach the fitness levels needed to win games,” Di Matteo said. “It’s terrific, we couldn’t have hoped for a better result.” Chelsea's 1-0 victory gives them a significant advantage ahead of next week’s second leg at Stamford Bridge. Only twice in Champions League history has a team surrendered such a winning position. Di Matteo, however, remains cautious. “Nothing is over,” he said. “There is still another 90 minutes to play. But we have home advantage and we are pleased that we’re in a different position going into the second leg. We had a mountain to climb against Napoli [3-1 first -leg defeat]. We still have a mountain, but it may be a bit smaller because we’ve achieved a good result here.” He added: “You look at the results Benfica have achieved in this Champions League, you’re not going to sleep very calmly looking at that. It’s difficult to play against Benfica. They haven’t lost here for a couple of years [10 European matches] and you saw why: they are a good side and have some good players. I thought we looked solid defensively and I always fancied us to score a goal.” Di Matteo also praised the performance of striker Fernando Torres. “He’s been terrific since I’ve been in charge,” he said. “I’ve been very happy with him, but with the others as well. They’ve all responded very well. It doesn’t matter to me who scores. We won and that’s all that matters. I’m just trying to give them a little confidence back. With the performances and the wins, they get a little bit of that back as well.” Di Matteo confirmed that Chelsea goalkeeping coach Christophe Lollichon had been sent off towards the end of the match. “I don’t know exactly what the reason was. I was focused so much on the game,” he said. There were also claims that Chelsea’s former Porto midfielder Raul Meireles had gestured at the Benfica supporters during the match.