Chelsea came out on top in José Mourinho’s return to Stamford Bridge, defeating Benfica 1-0 in the UEFA Champions League (UCL) to extend the Special One’s winless managerial H2H streak against the Blues to eight games (D3, L5).
Key stats
- Benfica have lost their last four games in the Champions League, their last joint longest losing streak was from 20th September 2023 to 8th November 2023.
- João Pedro's red card was Chelsea's first sending off since 12th April 2023 against Real Madrid.
- Benoît Badiashile attempted 80 passes in this game. It's the first time that a Chelsea player has attempted 80 passes or more in a single match in the Champions League.
Highlights
Analysis
Chelsea dominated for large periods of the game but only had three shots on goal with only one big chance in the 90 minutes.
Match report
Coming into this game unbeaten as Benfica boss (W2, D1), Mourinho oversaw a strong start from his side, with Dodi Lukébakio’s low strike requiring an intervention from Robert Sánchez to push it onto the foot of the post.
Chelsea eventually responded to the visitors’ positivity, almost breaking the deadlock when Pedro Neto fizzed a bouncing ball narrowly wide of the upright.
Undeterred, the winger soon provided a whipped cross to the back post, where Alejandro Garnacho guided the ball back across goal, prompting Richard Ríos to inadvertently divert it into his own net.
Having settled into the contest, the Blues nearly doubled their lead ahead of the HT break, as makeshift striker Tyrique George latched onto a Marc Cucurella ball, but couldn’t beat Anatoliy Trubin with only his second touch in the box thus far.
Benfica started the second period as they did the first, threatening the home side on a couple of occasions as Fredrik Aursnes found himself in promising positions, only to be flagged offside on both occasions. Clear-cut chances weren’t forthcoming, though, which suited the Blues as they kept the visitors at bay heading into the final 20 minutes.
Despite a triple change from Mourinho in an effort to shake things up, Chelsea were the side who came closest to finding the game’s second goal when substitute Estêvão forced a strong hand from Trubin with a header.
After red cards in back-to-back Premier League games, Chelsea were once again reduced to 10 men here as João Pedro was dismissed for a second yellow in stoppage time.
Nonetheless, the Blues saw out the game to get them off the mark in this season’s UCL campaign and maintaining their perfect record against Benfica, having now won each of their five meetings.
Meanwhile, the Portuguese giants are without a win in their last nine games against English opponents (D3, L6) and remain without a point in the league phase thanks to their disappointing collapse to Qarabağ on matchday one.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Alejandro Garnacho (Chelsea)
Click here to see all the stats of the match.
Post-match comments
Chelsea's Pedro Neto told TNT Sports: "We knew the difficulties we had in the first game and we tried to work hard to manage those difficulties and today was the resilience of the team that came through.
"I think we had a very good game. In the end we could have controlled it a bit more with the quality of what we had but in the end we have the three points.
"It's a tough team to face at home, we knew we needed to work hard, we did well."
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca enjoyed his side's work ethic against Benfica.
"The effort was very good," he told TNT Sports. "First half, I think we were better compared to the second half in the way we managed the ball and created chances. In the second half, we dropped.
"In the last two or three games, we have conceded two or three goals, and it's not possible to do that.
"We need to be better defensively, but a clean sheet is nice."
Benfica manager Jose Mourinho said to TNT Sports: "We played four matches with two days in between. I never trained, I just recovered in between and one of my strengths is on the pitch, training. You don't have time for that.
"When a team changes coach mid-season it's because things are not good. So we've had some difficulties and also a period of big pressure for the players with the election period at the club. It's almost a political campaign and the players can't escape that.
"Coming to the match today, a defeat is always a defeat but there are defeats and defeats. This one is one that can be a start for them, it was a stable performance. We could've come away from here with a draw and it would've been positive."