Chelsea edge past Benfica on Mourinho's return to the Bridge
Chelsea's Joao Pedro (left) and Benfica's Richard Rios battle for the ball. Pic: Bradley Collyer/PA Wire.
JOSE MOURINHO discovered adulation doesn’t pay the bills as Chelsea laboured to open their Champions League account at Stamford Bridge.
Afforded a warm reception on his latest return to the parish he regards as his happiest hunting ground in a managerial career spread across five countries, Mourinho pitched up in a sharp suit - but his side were all belt and no buckle.
Pedro Neto’s twinkling feet aside, Chelsea struggled to convert possession into creativity, and in the end they were grateful for the own goal which they were gifted.
And for the third game running, Enzo Maresca’s men finished with 10 men as substitute Joao Pedro was sent off six minutes into stoppage time for two bookable challenges.
Inevitably, Mourinho decorated his return to SW6 by supplementing nine yellow cards on the pitch with a caution of his own.
But no return to the ground where he won three Premier League titles would be complete without the Special One reminding his audience he remains the Blues’ most successful manager.
Reunions with Mourinho are pure theatre on a par with Broadway and the London Palladium, and even if he doesn’t intend to be the focal point, invariably he is finds himself centre stage when the curtain goes up.
He has not always been welcomed back to the Bridge with open arms in the past, branded ‘Judas’ by a section of supporters when he returned with Manchester United eight years ago.
Defeat did not diminish his hubris, scolding his turncoat critics: “When they have somebody who wins four Premier Leagues for them, I will be No.2 - but until this moment, Judas is No.1.
“My team kept winning and then a transformation of new teams, new coaches, more trophies, European trophies, the biggest one and the Champions League. So Chelsea is a winning machine. I am the biggest one until someone wins four.”
There was no hostility towards Mourinho this time. In an early outbreak of humility, he was acknowledging the first refrain lionising his name within 90 seconds.
And although Benfica’s class of 2025 is unlikely to provide him with a third European Cup triumph after his success with Porto in 2004 and Inter Milan 15 years ago, they are nobody’s mugs.
Chelsea, reduced to 10 men in each of their last two games against United and Brighton, survived an early scare when Belgian forward Dodi Lukebakio’s low, angled shot was smuggled on to his near post by Blues goalkeeper Robert Sanchez.
Lukebakio’s Premier League career lasted only 20 minutes. In his only appearance for Watford, a cameo off the bench at West Ham in February 2018, he looked more out of his depth than the proverbial fish up a tree.
But since he was shipped out on loan to Dusseldorf, and scored a hat-trick against Bayern Munich, his star has climbed more often than it has waned.
At times Lukebakio gave Benoit Badiashile, making his first appearance since Chelsea’s lucrative Club World Cup adventure in the summer, a torrid first half.
But with the injured Cole Palmer trussed up in an Arctic puffa jacket and carpet slippers in the stands, Chelsea broke through after 18 minutes.
Neto, who had already shaved the far post after cutting in off the right flank and trying his luck from 25 yards, picked out Alejandro Garnacho and the former United winger’s cut-back was slammed high into his own net by Richard Rios.
Defenders hate facing their own goal when low crosses come skidding across their six-yard box, but Rios was undone by his footwork and, in truth, Benfica were unlucky to be behind.
In his previous incarnation as an arch-pragmatist, Mourinho might have been tempted to park the bus away from home in Europe, but if stagecoach depots on Fulham Broadway were expecting his custom last night, they were disappointed.
The great man even turned peacemaker when Benfica’s excitable travelling support lobbed a selection of missiles at their former player Enzo Fernandez as the Argentine midfielder prepared to take a corner in front of them.
Mourinho marched down the touchline, waving his arms disapprovingly, before Tyrique George’s close-range effort from Marc Cucurella’s cut-back was shovelled to safety by Benfica’s Ukrainian keeper Anatoliy Trubin.
Sanchez 7, Gusto 7 (James, 81), Chalobah 7, Badiashile 5 (Acheampong, 81), Cucurella 6, Caicedo 7, Fernandez 6, Neto 8, Buonanotte 5 (Estevao, 54, 6), Garnacho 5 (Gittens, 61, 6), George 5 (Joao Pedro, 61, 6). Subs: Jorgensen, Merrick, James, Acheampong, Hato, Lavia, Walsh, Guiu.
Trubin 6, Dedic 6, Antonio Silva 6 (Araujo, 73), Otamendi 7, Dahl 6, Rios 5 (Berreiro, 77), Barrenechea 6, Lukebakio 8 (Schjelderup, 77), Aursnes 6, Sudakov 6 (Ivanovic, 77), Pavlidis 7. Subs: Soares, Ferreira, Obrador, Oliveira, Veloso, Rego, Prioste.
Daniel Siebert (Germany)
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
