Chelsea's caretaker manager Roberto Di Matteo is hoping to avoid what he describes as the "worst-case scenario" with reserves and youngsters on the bench for Sunday's Champions League football final against Bayern Munich.
Di Matteo, whose future whether Chelsea win or lose the game at Bayern's Allianz Arena is far from certain, said he was facing one of the biggest challenges of his career especially as Chelsea have four players suspended and possibly three senior men missing with injuries.
Captain John Terry, defender Branislav Ivanovic and midfielders Raul Meireles and Ramires are all banned from the final while Di Matteo says Florent Malouda is "touch and go" after pulling a hamstring during the first half of Monday's final Premier League match against Blackburn Rovers.
David Luiz and Gary Cahill also have hamstring injuries, but were training on Tuesday after missing most of the last month.
Di Matteo's hoping to avoid his worst-case scenario but will take some reserve-team players onto the bench just in case.
While Sunday's game could be Di Matteo's last in charge of Chelsea, he says all he's thinking about after the final is having a holiday and refused to be drawn on a possible move back to one of his former clubs, West Bromwich Albion, after being sacked from there as manager last year.
