Benitez to take reigns as Chelsea manager Rafael Benitez was confirmed as the interim successor to Roberto Di Matteo as manager at Chelsea tonight, with scope for the former Liverpool Champions League winner to stay in the manager's job long-term if he is successful. Benitez, 52, agreed a contract that lasts until the end of the season and, although in different circumstances he would not have been the club's first choice, he will be given the chance to establish himself. The club said in a statement: "The owner [Roman Abramovich] and the board believe that in Benitez we have a manager with significant experience at the highest level of football, who can come in and immediately help deliver our objectives." Benitez will meet the team tomorrow for the first time. Di Matteo was sacked around 4am this morning when the squad arrived back at the training ground from Gatwick airport following their return from Turin. The 3-0 defeat to Juventus, which leaves them on the brink of elimination from the Champions League group stages, was the final straw for Abramovich and the club's board. Pep Guardiola was their first choice but the former Barcelona coach will not abandon his year-long sabbatical in New York. The Borussia Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp is also admired at the club, so too Roberto Martinez at Wigan Athletic and the Germany national team coach Joachim Loew. During the summer Di Matteo was charged with giving the club a distinctive attacking style. There were doubts over whether he could achieve that - hence the delay in him being given the job on a permanent basis - and over the course of the season the club's hierarchy have increasingly felt that the team lacks an identity and style. He had won the Champions League employing an acutely defensive approach that the club accepted at the time as pragmatic. The defeat to Juventus, a poor, incoherent display, was the confirmation the club needed to make the change. It left the club with just two wins from their last eight games. However, the club felt that a messy battle over compensation for any of those figures would have proved problematic. They wanted a manager in place in time for Sunday's crucial Premier League game against Manchester City at Stamford Bridge. The club accept privately that Benitez is not popular with Chelsea fans, because of his association with Liverpool and the two clubs" intense rivalry when Jose Mourinho was in charge at the mid-point of the last decade. However, they believe that Benitez is capable of implementing the kind of distinctive style and approach they want. Chelsea felt they had no option but to dismiss Di Matteo early yesterday with news of their approach to Benitez having leaked. The 41-year-old looked grim-faced as he boarded the flight back to Gatwick along with his players and members of the press. Should Southampton decide to sack Nigel Adkins, Di Matteo, who is a close friend of Saints executive chairman Nicola Cortese, would be a prime candidate for the job. Chelsea announced yesterday morning that "recent performances and results have not been good enough." The club said: "The owner and the board felt that a change was necessary now to keep the club moving in the right direction as we head into a vitally important part of the season." Juan Mata said it had been "a difficult day" for the club. "With him as a manager, we won our first Champions League," he wrote on his Facebook page. He will always be remembered. The former Chelsea striker, and personal friend of Abramovich, Andrei Shevchenko was also on the club flight back from Turin.