Di Matteo blames exhaustion for Chelsea's loss against Newcastle

London, May 3(ANI): Interim Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo has said the exhausting schedule of his team is to be blamed for their loss against Newcastle United at Stamford Bridge, which has almost ended their chances of finishing in the top four.

Chelsea must win their May 19 Champions League final against Bayern Munich in Munich, or miss out on Europe's top competition for the first time since 2002, and Di Matteo admits it is going to be very tough for them to secure a top four berth.

"It's going to be difficult for us to reach fourth spot now. We'll keep pushing until it's impossible but this season has proved difficult for us. We've been pushing the players so hard for the last two months and they've given everything," The Sun quoted Di Matteo, as saying.

"This was our sixth game in 17 days and the effort is still there. They've done well. We'll regroup and pick them up. We've a great FA Cup final on Saturday and we'll go again. The motivation will be there against Liverpool," he added. (ANI)