Former Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo believes Mikel Obi’s contribution to the club was underappreciated by fans.
Mikel played over a decade at Stamford Bridge, helping the club win the Premier League, the Champions League, the Europa League, the FA Cup, and the UEFA Super Cup.
He was a member of Di Matteo’s squad that won the club’s first Champions League in 2012, as Chelsea defeated Bayern Munich in the final.
He also won two Premier League titles and four FA Cups.
In a chat with The Obi One Podcast, Di Matteo acknowledged the hard work that Mikel brought to the team, drawing from his own experience in a similar role.
“I played in the same position as you so I knew exactly what you go for in a game and what you felt,” Di Matteo said on The Obi One Podcast.
“The role that you played in our team is a little bit of an unsung hero role. You have to do a lot of work that the fans or the critics in general don’t really understand or appreciate but because I played a similar role I knew exactly how important you were for the team.”
In a 14-year international career between 2005 and 2019, he played 91 times for Nigeria, scoring six goals.
