Di Matteo told he'd be sacked if he axed Torres

ROBERTO DI MATTEO was warned he would be sacked if he axed £50million flop Fernando Torres. 

Chelsea chiefs were aware Di Matteo was thinking of dumping owner Roman Abramovich’s pet signing against Juventus on Tuesday. 

They advised the manager not to but the Italian ignored the warning — even though he knew it would cost him his job. 

Former Liverpool chief Rafa Benitez has been named as interim boss until the end of the season. 

Di Matteo was ruthlessly axed at 4am yesterday, hours after Chelsea were effectively knocked out of the Champions League with a a 3-0 defeat in Italy. 

Abramovich still hopes he can get former Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola in the summer. 

Benitez is a dream appointment for Torres, who only showed his true ability when he was taken to Liverpool by Rafa. 

Di Matteo decided to drop Torres after his dismal performance during the 2-1 defeat at West Brom on Saturday. 

He then refused to obey Chelsea’s orders and named Eden Hazard up front in Turin. 

And defeat was the final straw for Abramovich, who had been preparing to replace Di Matteo for almost a month. 

The Russian billionaire had only grudgingly appointed Di Matteo in June after failing to lure Guardiola. A fresh approach was rebuffed following Chelsea’s 2-1 defeat by Shakhtar Donetsk last month. 

And though Chelsea still hope to land Guardiola, Benitez has agreed to step in for the rest of the season with the brief of building a team around Britian’s most expensive footballer. 

Torres, who is known by the other players to have the ear of Abramovich, was furious about being substituted against West Brom and in his previous game against Liverpool. 

And he has been quietly lobbying for the appointment of Benitez, the man who signed him for Liverpool from Atletico Madrid in 2007. 

The £180,000-a-week striker said in a recent interview: “Rafa has been the most important coach in my career. He’s the only one who knew how to improve me.” 

Now Chelsea are banking on Benitez bringing the best out of a player who has hit just 19 goals in 87 appearances.

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Source: TheSun