Chelsea have not had a good month. Their defeat against Juventus in the Champions League on Tuesday was the last of a series of lackluster performances which have led the European champions on the brink of elimination from the competition they won last year, and have also led them to drop important points in the domestic championship, to fall from first to third place.

But it nonetheless came as a surprise on Wednesday that club owner Abramovich decided to sack manager Di Matteo, the man who only last May took the club to the European crown and capped a great end of season by also winning the FA Cup. Di Matteo led Chelsea where not even the much-acclaimed Jose Mourinho had taken it.

And yet it was not enough for Di Matteo to keep his place. Chelsea started the season extremely well, taking the leadership in no time and maintaining it until the bad patch they faced in November. Abramovich has no patience, and as he had done in the past, was quick to make up him mind to do away with the Italian manager.

It was ungrateful of him to do so. Yet it was not the first time that the Russian billionaire took his managers to task as soon as the form of the team dipped. He did it with Felipe Scolari, repeated it with Villas Boas and now did it again with Di Matteo. The difference is that with the first two, Chelsea had not achieved what they ultimately did with Di Matteo – although, given the chance, things could have been different.

The dismissal of Di Matteo is even crueler when Chelsea will travel to Japan in the next two weeks to play for the world club championship. They earned their place there after the victory they achieved over Bayern Munich in the Champions League final last May, and it would have been appropriate for Di Matteo to be given the chance to lead his team there too.

But, as we all know, there is no gratitude in football. Abramovich never liked the idea of having Di Matteo on board as a permanent fixture, and was somewhat forced into signing him up when the Italian manager achieved so much success. Still, at the first opportunity, they parted ways.

Now Chelsea have appointed Rafael Benitez instead. He is the type of coach who has a high-profile name that pleases Abramovich, but it will be a tall order for the Spaniard to repeat what Di Matteo did for Chelsea.