Ruud Gullit hopes Roberto Di Matteo is appointed as Chelsea manager on a permanent basis.
Di Matteo guided the Blues into the Champions League quarter-finals on Wednesday night following a stunning second-leg comeback against Italian outfit Napoli in the round of 16.
The 4-1 victory at Stamford Bridge took the former West Brom chief's winning streak to three in all competitions since he replaced the sacked Andre Villas-Boas in an interim capacity until the end of the season.
Ex-Chelsea manager Gullit reckons Di Matteo has galvanised the Londoners' dressing room and is backing the 41-year-old to remain in the managerial hotseat beyond the summer.
"(The board) have got to look at how he performs but I am happy at the way he has handled himself," said Gullit, who played with Di Matteo at Stamford Bridge during the 1990s.
"He has comforted the most influential players; he rested some of them in the FA Cup because other games were more important, but he gave them confidence by saying that he needed them.
Warm feeling
"I think Robbie is doing well. He and (assistant manager) Eddie Newton are Chelsea boys and it looks like (Chelsea) have that warm feeling again.
"I hope they can continue that until the end of the season and hopefully the board will decide that Robbie can stay in charge of Chelsea."
Thirty-somethings Didier Drogba, John Terry and Frank Lampard all netted in Chelsea's triumph over Napoli and Gullit believes the Blues' experienced campaigners - often overlooked by Villas-Boas - still have a major role to play at the club.
"The old players showed passion and that they care about what they are doing," said the Dutchman, who signed for Chelsea from AC Milan in1995.
"There was a debate about how good they were but on Wednesday they said: 'We are still here and you still need us'. They showed up when it mattered."
Chelsea will be the only English representative in the draw for the Champions League quarter-finals - the first time in six seasons that less than two Premier League sides have reached the last-eight stage.
Gullit thinks that shows the strides that the Spanish, German and Italian top-flights have made in recent years, but he hopes it spurs the English teams to perform better in Europe next term.
"The English league needs to understand that the other leagues won't sit still," added Gullit, who won the European Cup with AC Milan in 1989 and 1990.
"Don't think that just because you have more money and the most exciting league in the world that the others won't improve. Good players go to England but they also go to Germany, to Spain and to Italy.
"For the Champions League in general that is a good thing because the English teams now have to say: 'Wait a minute, we have to be better next year.'
"Hopefully, the English teams will come out stronger than they were before."
