Roberto Di Matteo has been sacked as Chelse a manager after the club’s crushing Champions League defeat at Juventus last night.

The manager who masterminded the greatest climax to a season in the Blues' history this morning paid the price for Chelsea possibly becoming the first holders to crash out of the competition before Christmas.

Last night's 3-0 loss in Turin - their heaviest ever in a group match - put them on the brink of doing just that, with Chelsea relying on a Shakhtar Donetsk side who have already qualified beating Juve to let them off the hook.

They must also win their own final Group E game against Nordsjaelland.

Pep Guardiola is still waiting in the wings, while there is even talk of Rafael Benitez or Avram Grant being parachuted in as a stopgap, in much the same way Di Matteo was last season.

Asked if he was confident he would still be in charge for the final group game and beyond, the Italian had said last night: "At the moment, I think, with the team we are all in it together.

"At the moment, I am here and I think I will be for the future.

"It's probably not a question you should ask me but, as far as I'm concerned, I'll keep working."

Asked if sacking him would be fair considering everything he achieved last season, he added: "I'm the wrong person to answer that question."

Di Matteo risked Abramovich's wrath last night by dropping Fernando Torres and radically overhauling his tactics - and he took full responsibility afterwards.

He said: "I'm responsible for the result. I'm responsible for the performance. It's a negative evening for us.

"If anyone has to take the blame, it's me. I selected a team I was convinced was the right team to win against Juventus, or get at least a draw, so the blame belongs to me."

He added: "I'm responsible for positive and negative results. This is what I do."

Di Matteo took more than an hour to emerge for his post-match press conference but he said that was not because he had been grilled by senior club executives.

He defended his selection decisions but was left clutching at straws when assessing Chelsea's prospects of qualifying.

He said: "Well, mathematically, it's still possible. While there's hope you still try.

"Who says that Juventus aren't going to lose at Shakhtar?

"We just have to make we do our job at our end, win the last group game.

"With 10 points, normally... usually, it's enough. Sometimes it's not. Sometimes it is."