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Just past the hour mark, with their team struggling slightly, Chelsea supporters began chanting the name of their former manager, Jose Mourinho. Dressed in a white shirt, blue trousers, and brogues, Benfica’s new coach acknowledged them with a single hand wave from the sidelines.
It seems some love affairs never really die. They just hide themselves away for a while.
Nowadays, Mourinho doesn’t pose a threat to Chelsea as he once did. Back in his days at clubs like Manchester United, Tottenham, Inter, and Real Madrid, there were tensions. Over time, things did become somewhat strained.
Mourinho’s team was neither outclassed nor humiliated on this occasion. Although Benfica suffered a crucial own goal in the 19th minute, courtesy of Richard Rios misdirecting a volleyed cross from Alejandro Garnacho, they remained competitive and generated their own chances.
As the game reached a frenetic end – Mourinho picked up a yellow for a minor show of sideline discontent and Chelsea’s substitute Joao Pedro saw red for two swift cautionable offenses – Benfica was in control and aggressively attacking. At that critical juncture, all the Portuguese side lacked was a bit of penalty area composure or a slice of luck.
Richard Rios’ first-half own goal was enough to give Chelsea a slender win over Benfica
Jose Mourinho received a warm reception on his latest Stamford Bridge return – but it ended in defeat
Ultimately, they found themselves short on both, resulting in a narrow and arguably harsh defeat. Whether this reflects more on Chelsea’s current inconsistencies than on Benfica remains to be seen, particularly with Liverpool visiting over the weekend.
Heading into a significant stretch for Mourinho, whose team will take on another of his former clubs, Porto, this weekend, he seemed quietly assured. In the ninety minutes before the start, he greeted nearly everyone with a handshake. Joe Cole, who once played under his management here, even received a warm embrace.
Not much seemed to have changed once the game started, though. It took Mourinho only two minutes to be spoken to by the fourth official for the first time. His crime was to stand outside of his technical area and with his feet right on the touchline as two players careered towards him. Mourinho was, in truth, fortunate not to be left on the seat of his undoubtedly expensive pants.
On the field, things went rather better for a while. Benfica were bright and troubled Chelsea whenever they got forward. Indeed in the eighth minute they almost scored as Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella gave up possession to Dodi Lukebakio who swapped passes with Georgiy Sudakov on the right and drove a low left foot shot against the foot of Robert Sanchez’s near post.
There were other half chances too as Sudakov had a low shot saved and then Rios connected weakly with a stabbed effort.
These chances all arrived on the counter. It was Chelsea who had most of the ball at this stage and the Premier League side were close to a goal themselves, as the dangerous Pedro Neto cut in from the right and drove across goal and wide. Then Garnacho had an opportunity at the far post only to move away from the ball to volley rather than propel himself forward to head. Bad decision.
The Chelsea winger did rather better soon after that moment, however. When Neto crossed deep from the left in the 19th minute, Garnacho peeled away to connect smartly across goal for Rios to crash the ball in to his own net.
Mourinho’s response was to rise from his dugout seat and encourage his players to lift their chins. They managed to do just that and remained in the game. Indeed Trevor Chalobah’s six yard line tackle on Vangelis Pavlidis was all that stood between Benfica and an equaliser.
Alejandro Garnacho had a huge hand in the game’s only goal as his volley was turned in
Chelsea’s disciplinary woes continued as substitute Joao Pedro was sent off late on
Soon after Mourinho was been off on an amble down the touchline in a bid to quieten his team’s supporters as they barracked and threw paper cups at Enzo Fernandes. Mourinho used to move down English touchlines rather quicker than that. Proof that time catches up with everybody in the end.
His team were full of running at the start of the second half, though, and twice Benfica worked good positions to see the whites of Sanchez’s eyes. Both times a flag went up.
Chelsea were not in control of the game at all as it moved towards the hour mark and were in need of a second goal. At this stage, their manager Enzo Maresca made his first change as the Brazilian teenager Estevao replaced the wholly ineffective Facundo Buonanotte.
This was on the whole a pretty disjointed performance by a team that like to remind everyone of their World Champions status at every opportunity. Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised. Does anyone – including the manager – really have a clue what Chelsea’s first choice eleven is?
More changes arrived for both teams. It’s always the way these days and it certainly didn’t help the flow of the game. Chelsea were comfortable but not creative. In fact it was hard to think of a clear chance Maresca’s team made in the second half of a game they may be glad to have merely got out of the way.
Victory for Chelsea, then, even of Joao Pedro’s dismissal – the second booking coming for a raised foot – will have irked Maresca. It was Chelsea’s third in four games and was utterly unnecessary.
Mourinho himself looked rather dissatisfied at the end – when ever doesn’t he? – and maybe that told much of this story.
