By MARK IRWIN
ROBERTO DI MATTEO says Chelsea need “the perfect game” to avoid an early Champions League exit.
No defending European champions have ever failed to reach the knockout stages in the history of the competition.
But anything less than three points against Shakhtar Donetsk at Stamford Bridge this evening would leave the Blues almost certainly needing to win at Juventus to stand any chance of making it out of Group E.
And before he even thinks about a trip to the Italian champions, Di Matteo admits his team cannot afford to repeat the defensive mistakes which littered their 2-1 defeat in Ukraine two weeks ago.
The manager said: “This is a must-win match for us and we need a perfect game against Shakhtar.
“Every individual player on the pitch has to perform at the highest of their ability. We have to win our remaining two home games against Shakhtar and against Nordsjaelland.
“If we do that our destiny is back in our own hands and that’s what we want.”
Chelsea’s hopes at home and in Europe have been boosted by the return of skipper John Terry after his much-publicised four-match suspension.
But left-back Ashley Cole misses the opportunity to make his 100th European appearance after suffering a hamstring injury at Swansea on Saturday.
Chelsea have conceded 10 goals during Terry’s absence and also surrendered their lead at the top of the Premier League to Manchester United after Swans’ late equaliser.
Yet Di Matteo insists there can be no turning back on the attacking style he has introduced this season despite winning the Champions League with a backs-to-the-wall policy in Barcelona and Munich.
He added: “There are some comparisons to last season when we had some must-win games and this is another.
“Our style is changing but fortunately we have players with the experience of these situations.
“That helps them not to feel the pressure too much and we have shown that over many years and we’ll be fired up to win this game.
“You look at the goals we’ve conceded in the Champions League this season and we’ve always had many players behind the ball.
“It’s not like we’ve been caught out. We have made some individual mistakes but sometimes you have to give credit to the opposition.
“In Donetsk the early goal helped them massively. It allowed them to play on the counter-attack rather than having to break us down.
“But when we’re fully focused, we’re a very good team so we have to concentrate on what we can do, the problems we can create for the other team and let them be concerned about us.”
Yet while Di Matteo tried to gloss over his team’s recent problems in defence, full-back Branislav Ivanovic admits that Chelsea cannot continue to throw caution to the wind and expect to succeed in Europe.
The Serbian insisted: “If we’re going to be successful we have to be defensively stronger as a term. I am sure we can create chances against any team and score goals.
“But the question is about our defence and that is what we have to work harder on. This is the part of our game we have to improve as a team.
“In the group stage the important thing is to be solid and compact. We can go back to playing the other way in the knockout stage.
“In Donetsk we conceded early on and lost our organisation. But the positive thing is we know where we made mistakes and how we have to play this time to stop their counter-attacks.
“We have to make it completely different to the way we played in Ukraine.”
Cole’s injury means he will also almost certainly miss out on his 100th England cap in next week’s friendly in Sweden.
But Di Matteo is more concerned about tonight’s game.
He said: “It’s a real blow to lose Ashley because he has great experience in these kind of games.
“But JT is available again and I have no qualms about Ryan Bertrand at left-back because he’s performed very well for us every time he’s played.
“He was in the Champions League final team and I have full confidence that we will play another great game.”
Fernando Torres will be desperate to get back in the goals after four games.
The Spain striker yesterday collected his Euro 2012 Golden Boot at Stamford Bridge.
