CHELSEA MIDFIELDER RAMIRES has praised the influence of interim manager Roberto di Matteo in the team’s resurgence.

FA Cup semi-finalists Chelsea are just a step away from facing Barcelona in the last four of the Champions League.

They take a 1-0 lead into the quarter-final second leg against Benfica at Stamford Bridge tonight, and Ramires believes much the credit is down to the new man in charge.

“We went through a tough phase obviously,” the Brazilian said. ”We took strength and confidence from the change in coach. We felt more respect for ourselves.

“Roberto’s obviously instilled great confidence in us. Also we began to realise that we’re a great team, that we have great players.  And we’ve built from the first victory when Roberto took charge. And we’ve just gone from strength to strength.”

Should Chelsea progress, they will come up against defending champions Barca, who reached the semi-finals when they beat Serie A title holders AC Milan 3-1 on Tuesday. But Ramires, who spent a season Benfica, knows a meeting with the Spanish giants is not guaranteed yet.

“Obviously we respect Benfica a great deal,” he said. ”It’s a massive club with a lot of tradition, so there’ll be no talk of Barcelona in the changing room.

“I’m sure there’ll be plenty of talk afterwards if we manage to progress. But at the moment the focus is solely on this game.”

Chelsea are the only club still flying the flag for the English Premier League in this season’s Champions League. Di Matteo is hoping to have Didier Drogba and Raul Meireles available, while former Benfica defender David Luiz looks set to recover from an ankle injury sustained during Saturday’s 4-2 league win at Aston Villa.

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