(News & Photos from ESPN and Fotosports International)
Chelsea have confirmed
that Rafa Benitez has been appointed as their interim first-team manager, with
the former Liverpool boss replacing Roberto Di Matteo, who was sacked by the
Blues on Wednesday
Benitez, who has been out of work for two years
since being axed by Inter Milan after only six months at the San Siro, takes
the Stamford Bridge reins on a deal until the end of the season. It is the
second successive time he has taken charge of Champions League holders.
Before his spell at Inter, the Spanish boss spent
six years in charge of Liverpool, where he had the upper hand on Chelsea in a
number of high-profile encounters - including Champions League semi-finals in
2005 and 2007.
Coincidentally he will take Chelsea to the Club
World Cup in December - a competition that he won as Inter boss before being
sacked just days after lifting the trophy.
A statement on Chelsea's official website said:
Chelsea Football Club can confirm Rafael Benitez has been appointed interim
first-team manager until the end of the season.
"The owner and the board believe that in
Benitez we have a manager with significant experience at the highest level of
football, who can come in and immediately help deliver our objectives.
"The 52-year-old Spaniard is due to meet the
players at the training ground in Cobham tomorrow."
In March, ESPN broke the story that Benitez was
first under consideration for the Chelsea job before Andre Villa-Boas was
sacked, with talks breaking down because the Spaniard wanted an 18-month
contract and the deal on offer was only until the end of the season.
But with a similarly short-term deal on the table
this time around, Benitez changed his mind and is prepared to try to prove
himself between now and next May, with a clause thought to be included that
would see him granted a full season in 2013-14 should he turn results around.
Benitez is in Abu Dhabi for a scheduled
appearance at a coaching conference, but is now making plans to fly into
Manchester on Thursday morning.
He told Sport360° on Wednesday: "I have just
found out [about Di Matteo]. Obviously Chelsea is a top side and they can
compete for trophies so it goes in this category."
Asked if Chelsea had already made an approach, he
replied: "You ask directly, I cannot answer directly. In football a lot of
people are talking so we will see what happens in the next few days. I am
looking for a club that can challenge for trophies and Chelsea is one of these
clubs."
Despite the impending appointment of Benitez,
Blues owner Roman Abramovich is still thought to want to bring former Barcelona
coach Pep Guardiola to Stamford Bridge as a long-term managerial option next
summer.
Guardiola remains on a year's sabbatical in New
York but will start planning his future early in the New Year, indicating that
Benitez has an even shorter period to impress.
Abramvoich opted to inform Di Matteo of his
dismissal at 4am GMT on Wednesday morning, when he arrived back at the club's
Cobham training ground from Turin.
ESPN sources have explained that conversations
between Abramovich's close aides, and board members, had taken place immediately
after the damaging defeat at Juventus, which could see Chelsea become the first
Champions League holders to be eliminated in the group stage
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