Chelsea attacking midfielder Juan Mata, although saddened by the exit of Roberto Di Matteo, has welcomed Rafa Benitez as his replacement.
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Di Matteo's successful but short-lived reign as Chelsea's manager came to a sudden end when he was fired only six months after guiding the club to an unlikely Champions League title.
Russian owner Roman Abramovich dispatched with Di Matteo following an emergency, middle-of-the-night executive meeting at Chelsea's training ground, which came after a 3-0 loss at Juventus on Tuesday.
The club's management wasted no time in announcing former Liverpool manager Benitez as Di Matteo's replacement.
Recognising his newly appointed boss's previous accomplishments, Mata said: "Rafa Benitez is a great coach. He's got lots of experience and won a lot of trophies with Liverpool, taking them to a very high level. He knows the Premier League too.
"Di Matteo's sacking means things haven't been going well but we can't just blame it all on the Juventus game. We can't just focus on what happened recently."
Mata also expressed his dissatisfaction with Chelsea's recent performances.
"It was a really tough blow losing to Juventus. It was a sad night for all the players. We thought we could at least draw, if not win the game."
Benitez knows in order to be successful at Chelsea, he will have to inspire Fernando Torres to the levels of performance that earned the Spaniard a big-money move to Stamford Bridge.
Torres was at his peak while working under Benitez at Liverpool prior to his move to Chelsea in January 2011.
Benitez had encouraging words to say about the striker: "He's still trying very hard but I still think he'll improve.
"Can he get back to that level? I'm not sure but he can improve, especially if he can improve his confidence, he can get back to high levels."
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