Sunday, 11th November, 2012
Brazilian striker Hulk believes that Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo should win FIFA’s Coach of the Year award.
The Zenit St. Petersburg hitman thinks that the Italian worked wonders at Stamford Bridge, taking over midway through last season and steering the Blues to the Champions League, a competition most coaches never get near winning.
For Hulk, who joined Zenit St. Petersburg for a fee of around €40M over the summer, that was a mightily impressive feat from the former midfielder and is enough to ensure that Di Matteo would get the striker’s vote.
"Picking a coach is harder [than picking a player to win the Ballon d’Or] because we don’t see what goes on with teams on a day-to-day basis", Hulk told FIFA.com.
"That’s why I think people always choose someone who’s won a trophy, like the UEFA Champions League, because they know how hard it is to win it", he continued.
"So I’d vote for Roberto Di Matteo of Chelsea.
"I don’t know if he’s the best coach but you only have to look at what he achieved in taking on the job halfway through the competition, beating Barcelona and then winning it. It was a job very well done.
relatedNewsStory"I watched Chelsea’s games, and in technical and tactical terms they played very well."
It remains to be seen if Di Matteo will collect the Coach of the Year award, but the Italian was richly rewarded for winning the Champions League, by being handed a contract with Chelsea to remain in his post.
Last year Josep Guardiola picked up the award, while in 2010, the first year it was handed out, Jose Mourinho scooped it.
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