Sitting in the Shed Upper for the Everton fixture, it was pleasing to see a familiar face sat amongst the faithful.
Watching the action form row 1, somewhere around seat number 180 was a certain Roberto Di Matteo, accompanied by his son and, what appeared to be, his father. Roberto, clearly a Chelsea supporter at heart, entertained all requests for autographs from the various people that approached him.
Although he left some ten minutes before the end, probably to beat the rush, he appeared to be enjoying the experience and reacted as manically as the rest of us when Chelsea scored.
His place in Chelsea history remains unique. The likeable Italian scored in two FA Cup Finals as well as a Coca-Cola Cup Final. His record of scoring the fastest ever goal in a Wembley FA Cup Final (43 seconds) will probably never be beaten.
Therefore, it remains a tragedy that his Chelsea career was cruelly cut short after he suffered a badly broken leg in a UEFA Cup tie. Despite heroic attempts to resume his professional career, the physical damage was too great and Roberto was forced to call it a day.
I often wonder how the current midfield would have fared against that famous midfield quartet of Di Matteo, Wise, Poyet and Petrescu. Would they have nullified the threat posed by our current squad or has the game moved on in the short time that has passed since Di Matteo?s enforced retirement?
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