Roberto di Matteo's shock sacking yesterday centred around him benching Fernando Torres for Chelsea's Champions League defeat at Juventus.The Sun says Chelsea chiefs were aware Di Matteo was thinking of dumping owner Roman Abramovich's pet signing against Juventus on Tuesday.

They advised the manager not to but the Italian ignored the warning - even though he knew it would cost him his job.

Di Matteo decided to drop Torres after his dismal performance during the 2-1 defeat at West Brom on Saturday.

He then refused to obey Chelsea's orders and named Eden Hazard up front in Turin.

And defeat was the final straw for Abramovich, who had been preparing to replace Di Matteo for almost a month.