• Premier League

Di Matteo must win cup and finish fourth - Ranieri

ESPN staff
April 16, 2012
Roberto Di Matteo has guided Chelsea into the FA Cup final © PA Photos
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Former Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri says the Blues must win the FA Cup and finish fourth in the Premier League if Roberto Di Matteo is to secure the permanent manager's job at Stamford Bridge.

Di Matteo has seen Chelsea lose just one of his first 12 games in charge since being appointed interim boss following the sacking of Andre Villas-Boas at the beginning of March.

Chelsea are the only English side through to the semi-finals of the Champions League and booked their place in the FA Cup final with a 5-1 win over Tottenham on Sunday.

However, they are currently sixth in the Premier League, two points off fourth-placed Tottenham, and Ranieri has warned his fellow Italian that failure to qualify for next season's Champions League will not be accepted by the club's hierarchy.

"Roberto has started very well," Ranieri told BBC Sport. "Roberto is the right man to do something good there. If he achieves the FA Cup and fourth place, then why not?"

He added: "Which is the most important? They both are. It is the easy answer but it is the truth. It is important for the next season to finish in the top four and make the Champions League, but it is also very important for the club to win the FA Cup."

At 41, Di Matteo's only previous experience of managing a Premier League side came with West Brom, but despite the 34-year-old Villas-Boas being shown the door after less than nine months in charge, Ranieri insists experience is not the most critical factor.

"Experience is not necessarily important," Ranieri said. "Villas-Boas is clearly a good manager - he won a lot at Porto. Look at Pep Guardiola at Barcelona too - he also started very young at a big club. Your age is not important. What is important is the ideas you transmit to your players.

"Villas-Boas was unlucky because he wanted to do something new. But there is a team there with experienced players and it is important to use them in the right way. If you put in younger players only sometimes, rather than change things a lot, then that is how I would do it."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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