Roberto Di Matteo will send his Chelsea players into the Allianz Arena against Bayern Munich on Saturday night urging them to grasp their opportunity to make history and claim the club's first European Cup.

This will be the last game of the interim coach's 11-week spell in charge following the dismissal of André Villas-Boas, with his future at the club beyond the expiry of his contract on 30 June unclear. The impressive impact made by the Italian has drawn praise from his opposite number Jupp Heynckes, with Di Matteo and his players now attempting to make up for painful near misses in this competition over recent seasons.

"I believe my players have all the qualities you need to win this competition," said Di Matteo, who stressed that Villas-Boas, too, deserved praise for setting Chelsea out en route to the final. "Those qualities have taken us to this stage and I'm very positive and very confident now. I don't know what the future will hold but we can win it. We have to believe we can and have the confidence to do so.

"The players deserve this. Many of them have been here before and know how it feels not to bring the trophy home but you make your own destiny and fate. It will come, sooner or later. We hope it will come here in Munich. But, with the quality that's been at this club before and that will certainly come into this club again, it will happen [one day]. But all our focus is on delivering it now."

Roman Abramovich's Chelsea have featured in six semi-finals in the past nine years but have only once previously progressed into the showpiece, with eight of the squad who will be involved on Saturday having been involved in the defeat on penalties to Manchester United in Moscow in 2008. "It's taken us a long time to get back but we always believed we had the quality to come again," said the stand-in captain, Frank Lampard, right. "We would only get a sense of reprieve if we go on to win. Being underdogs, playing Bayern Munich in their own stadium, fills you with even more determination. The fact they're the home team is a great challenge for us: bring it on."

The England midfielder, who will captain the team in the absence of the suspended John Terry, praised Di Matteo's impact. "He's been very clever in how he's managed the situation," he said. "We were struggling for confidence on the pitch, and rather than come in and make drastic changes, he spoke to everyone individually and created confidence in the group. We got some early wins, the Napoli game [in the knockout stage] changed everything, and from then on he's quietly done a perfect job. If anyone deserves to win this game, it's him."

Bayern will employ Anatoliy Tymoshchuk or Daniel Van Buyten alongside Jérôme Boateng at the heart of their defence in place of the suspended Holger Badstuber, with fears over Arjen Robben's fitness allayed. They will begin the match as favourites having won 14 of their past 15 European matches here, though Heynckes has urged caution. "Two years ago, [the president] Uli Hoeness said he had a dream: to play the Champions League final in our own stadium," Heynckes said. "Well, we've made it. But now we need some realism.

"We're up against a team with huge experience, fantastic organisation and outstanding players. I don't share the euphoria you hear outside that we're the favourites. Chelsea have players who have won everything apart from this trophy, and it's their dream too. We have played some great home matches this season but it'll now be necessary to play one more."