Stamford Bridge was a gregarious place last night, with excitement and expectation levels once again rising after a dismal first half of the season. Chelsea went into their home game with a 1-0 advantage that they had fought hard for last week in Portugal. Di Matteo once again mixed up the starting line-up to accommodate the Londoner’s busy schedule in recent weeks. With the FA Cup and a top four place in the League still to fight for, Chelsea have the busiest schedule of all the teams in the Premiership. They now face a run of eight games in 26 days. Torres started up front, flanked by Mata and Kalou, who had scored the only goal in the first leg.
Benfica started the game sharply and looked more dangerous than they had been last week. However the visitors lacked the ruthlessness needed in front of goal. Twenty minutes into the first half Javi Garcia barged Ashley Cole off the ball in his own box and Chelsea were awarded a penalty. Lampard coolly converted it, putting Chelsea two goals up on aggregate. Later in the first half the visitor’s task to pull back the deficit was made even harder when captain Maxi Pereira recklessly challenged Mikel and was sent off.
Minutes into the second half Terry had to be substituted for Cahill after limping off with an injury. It became apparent later that the Chelsea captain had been playing with two cracked ribs and had been struggling to breath during the game.
Benfica didn’t give up and worked hard in the second half. Late in the game Garcia jumped high from an in-swinging corner and put his team one goal away from going through to the semis. Chelsea endured a few nervy minutes where Benfica threw everyone forward and looked like they could get the second goal. However, with their entire team attacking, the Portuguese side were vulnerable on the counter-attack. Meireles took advantage of this weakness when he scooped up the ball in his own half and bolted three-quarters the length of the pitch before firing the ball past keeper Artur and securing the win.
Chelsea’s display, while impressive for this season’s standard, will still need to improve if they are to attempt to challenge holders Barcelona and make their way into the final for the first time since 2008.