At the request of a friend, talk about Di Matteo in his playing days. The most striking feature of this player is that he always has a smile on his face. Regardless of whether he is ahead or behind, he always shows people with a smiling face, which is particularly impressive. So much so that our domestic media called him the Smiling Tiger back then. For example, the influential "Contemporary Sports" in the past, the football 108 series launched during the 98 World Cup, gave Di Matteo the nickname of the smiling tiger. I believe that many old fans who have experienced that era should have some impressions of this.
Don't look at Di Matteo as a real Italian international, but his birthplace is not in the Apennines, but Schaffhausen, the northernmost part of Switzerland. As for his birthday, it was May 29, 1970. As a teenager, he began his football career at the local club Schaffhausen.
Di Matteo, who plays as a midfielder, is really capable of attacking and defending, and has a good scoring ability. What's even more commendable is that he can not only play as a wingman, but also as the heart of the midfield. At that time, the Swiss league was not very technical, and the reckless men with big shoulders and round waists were the mainstream. Di Matteo, who is known for his skills at his feet, is definitely a scarce commodity in the Swiss league, and there has never been a shortage of suitors. After making a name for himself in Schaffhausen, he was recruited by Zurich and then became the heart of Aarau's midfield, leading them to the league title.
At this time, Di Matteo's reputation is not inferior to that of Sforza, and he can be regarded as the signature star of the Swiss League. In the summer of 1993, the two midfielders said goodbye to the Swiss league together, Sforza went to the Bundesliga, and Di Matteo landed in the Apennines and became part of Lazio.
As for the Lazio team at this stage, the staffing of the midfield is quite luxurious. What Signori, Casiraghi, Fosse, Winter, are all first-class good players. Di Matteo got together with them and it didn't take much effort to create a good chemistry. Signanoli has won the Serie A Golden Boot several times, which is the best proof of their good chemistry.
However, at this time, although the offensive firepower of the Lazio team was fierce, the defense was not very reliable. On the one hand, Nesta, a historical defender cultivated by the Lazio team, is still a rookie at this time, and he can't be counted on at all. On the other hand, not long after Di Matteo joined Lazio, Zeman arrived. As for Zeman, the head coach, he is notoriously heavy on offense and light on defense. The staffing of the Lazio backline is not very good in the first place, and it is really worse to have this type of coach.
If you want to win the title in Serie A, which emphasizes defense, it is certainly not enough to have strong attacking firepower. Therefore, during the years that Di Matteo played for Lazio, he simply did not strive for the championship. However, this team played really well, not only scoring goals, but also a lot of wonderful cooperation, no one dares to underestimate it. Even Milan and Juventus, who have superstars on all three lines, still have to be up to 12 points when facing Lazio.
As for the protagonist of this article, Di Matteo, he played quite happily under Zeman. He formed a regular midfield three with Forsse and Dutch international Winter, with Di Matteo being a bit higher in terms of tactical status. He was the heart of Lazio's midfield at the time, with Winter and Fosse being his wingmen. Although he was unable to lead the team to win the championship, he has always maintained the level of the top four in the league, and the lower limit is quite high.
The midfield core of the top four teams in Serie A can be valued by the Swiss team in any era, let alone in the era when Serie A was known as a mini-World Cup. At that time, the Swiss Football Association naturally wanted to recruit Di Matteo. However, Di Matteo was unwilling to accept the invitation of the Swiss team at all, even if the Swiss team qualified for the 94 World Cup, Di Matteo still resolutely refused. This smiling tiger just wants to play for the Italian national team. Because Di Matteo's parents are Italian, he was only born in Switzerland.
But the Italian team at that time didn't need Di Matteo too much. Admittedly, Di Matteo is capable of both attack and defence, and can play as the heart of the midfield. However, the Italian team already has Albertini. You must know that Albertini's club record and game experience, and even the degree of tacit cooperation with key Italian players such as Maldini and Baresi are obviously above Di Matteo.
In this way, Di Matteo could only sit in front of the TV and watch the 1994 World Cup in the United States. The Italian team's record in reaching the final is really good, but it basically has nothing to do with Di Matteo. As for the Swiss team, which was rejected by Di Matteo, they broke into the round of 16 under the leadership of Sforza. If Di Matteo is willing to play for Switzerland, the team's record could even go further.
As for the 1996 European Championship, although Di Matteo was selected for the Italian squad, because of Albertini's existence, he could only serve as a substitute in the Italian team, and watched the group stage of the Azzurri end before returning home. In the 98 World Cup or something, Di Matteo still can't play the main force in the Italian team, and his sense of presence has never been strong.
At the national team level, Di Matteo's rejection of Switzerland's choice for Italy is undoubtedly debatable. People are "rather for the chicken, not for the cow", Di Matteo is just the opposite, he is "rather for the cow, not for the chicken".
Fortunately, the key choice in life is not only once. The smiling tiger made the wrong choice at the national team level, but at club level, he undoubtedly chose the right answer.
In the summer of 1996, Roberto Di Matteo, who could only serve as a substitute for Italy, received an offer from Chelsea. At this time, the Chelsea team was still early before Abou became the owner, and it was not a championship team in the Premier League, and there was a significant gap with Manchester United and Arsenal at the same time.
In this context, Di Matteo, who is a key player in Lazio's midfield, still made the decision to say goodbye to the Apennines and go to Chelsea to play, and shattered his glasses. Lazio fans were puzzled and angry, and after getting the news, they stopped Di Matteo outside Lazio's headquarters for a while. Fortunately, the smiling tiger's eloquence was quite good, which dissuaded the angry fans.
If they want to convince Lazio to let them go, Chelsea will naturally have to pay blood. The £4.9 million transfer fee broke Chelsea's record transfer fee at the time, making Roberto Di Matteo, an Italian substitute, the Chelsea champion.
Di Matteo, who bears the title of Chelsea's king, has conquered the fans of his new club within a few days of landing at Stamford Bridge. Let's put it this way, Di Matteo went to play in the Premier League back then, and that was to go to technical poverty alleviation. In the smiling tiger's first season at Chelsea, he helped his new club win the FA Cup. In this FA Cup final, Di Matteo opened the scoring with a long-range shot in just 43 seconds, and the performance was amazing.
In the days that followed, as long as the smiling tiger was fit, he was Chelsea's main midfielder. Under his help, Chelsea won many trophies, including the English League Cup, the European Cup Winners' Cup, the UEFA Super Cup, and the Charity Shield. The smiling Tiger's Chelsea career lasted until 2002, when he ended his playing career as a Chelsea player. After Di Matteo's retirement, he also coached Chelsea to the European Cup. By any measure, Roberto Di Matteo is a Chelsea legend. No matter how Chelsea's history is written, Di Matteo's name is inescapable.
Looking back, if Di Matteo hadn't chosen Chelsea at the time, he would have stayed at Lazio. Then his next days will probably be difficult. If anyone doesn't believe me, look at what happened to Forsse. With Lazio's frenzied recruitment, it is really not easy for the old people in the midfield to stay in the team......
All in all, Di Matteo's playing career is a choice of defeat and success.