Schalke's new coach

"We have to keep a clean sheet" was the mantra at Schalke during the club's heyday in the 1990s. Dutchman Huub Stevens was the coach at the time, and his defensive tactics helped Schalke lift the Europa League's foreunner, the UEFA Cup, back in 1997 - their greatest achievement to date. At that time, the club had a reputation for their fight and commitment on the pitch.

After Stevens' departure in 2002, head coaches have been coming and going at Schalke on a regular basis. Di Matteo will be the eighth coach to manage the club since April 2008.

Big names like Jupp Heynckes, Felix Magath and Ralf Rangnick have all struggled to get the best out of their team. Sometimes the chemistry between players, coach and club was just wrong. Other times it was bad luck, the wrong transfers or poor health.

One thing that Schalke want more than anything, though, is a first Bundesliga title. Their last national title was back in 1958, before the current competition even existed. Now, it's Roberto Di Matteo's job to bring the championship plate to Gelsenkirchen.

In his so far short coaching career, Di Matteo has managed one big success. In 2012, he spoiled Bayern's final at home, winning the Champions League with Chelsea in Munich. On the night it seemed like his Chelsea team had just one shot on goal, as they went on to hold their nerve in a penalty shoot-out. It wasn't pretty, but it was a tactical masterstroke. "We have to keep a clean sheet!" is probably what Di Matteo said to his charges that night, in English, Italian or French.

Italian mastermind

From that perspective, Di Matteo and Schalke could be a good fit. He was sacked at Chelsea just months after lifting the Champions League trophy, and since then, he has been on the search for a new position. Before his time at the London club, the former Italian international coached Milton Keynes and West Bromwich Albion in England.

As a player Roberto Di Matteo picked up 34 caps for Italy. The talented midfielder played his early club football in the Swiss national league before moving to Lazio and then to Chelsea. It was there that he ended his active playing career in 2002 after a bad injury.

In Gelsenkirchen, Schalke's structure will be in stark contrast to Chelsea's. In London, Roman Abramovic fulfilled just about every transfer wish that Di Matteo hoped for. But at Schalke, that sort of big money isn't around, even with the support of the club's major sponsor Gazprom.

Although Schalke's defense, with Benedikt Höwedes and Joel Matip, includes some quality players, Schalke can't boast the same sort of star-studded lineup as Chelsea. But, that would have been obvious to Schalke's new coach when he signed his contract.

Di Matteo has said that he is a fan of attacking football. When he was asked about parking the bus in the Champions League final back in 2012, the 44-year-old said nonchalantly: "That's tactics."

At Schalke, Di Matteo doesn't have much time to make things work. His Schalke side are already out of the German Cup, and progression out of the Champions League group stage looks tricky. In the Bundesliga, the season needs to be turned around quickly, as the team is currently sitting in 11th place. A few more mistakes and qualification for the Champions League this season will be in jeopardy. That will, in turn, have consequences for the club as Schalke remain heavily in debt. The jury is still out on whether the youthful current squad really has what it takes to be a top team anyway.

Businessman in a tracksuit

As well as being a football coach, Di Matteo's other skills should help him at Schalke. Born in Switzerland, he speaks German, one of three languages di Matteo speaks fluently. This linguistic ability should allow him to communicate freely with players. He's also got a degree in business adminstration. That's not a bad thing to have at one of Germany's most economically-unstable big clubs.

Di Matteo will be the third Italian to take on a coaching role in the Bundesliga. During the 1990s, Giovanni Trapattoni coached at Bayern Munich and Stuttgart, while Nevio Scala worked at Borussia Dortmund.