Chelsea vs Benfica second leg

First half
Chelsea had to defend almost non-stop for the first four minutes as Benfica, attacking the Shed End containing their fans, started with a high tempo. There were important block tackles from Lampard and John Terry on the edge of our area before we eventually took the ball inside the opposition half.

The Blues won our first corner on seven minutes, flicked on to David Luiz in space who rifled a shot goalwards, blocked well by the leg of Capdevila.

We threatened to cut through the Portuguese side on the break soon after but Mata got his angles wrong in attempting to find Torres ahead of him. Mata had the ball in the net seconds later, but had run offside in the move.

The Slovenian ref wasn't slow to whistle up physical contact and on 18 minutes he produced a yellow card for the first time. David Luiz had anticipated well, nipping between Oscar Cardozo and the ball and receiving a kick on the ankle from the Benfica striker as a reward.

A minute later the ref was reaching for his card again, this time in the aftermath of awarding Chelsea a penalty. Cole had just taken down a lofted ball forward when he was bundled to the floor by stand-in centre-back Garcia. Bruno Cesar and Maxi Pereira were booked in the aftermath.

Chelsea v Benfica

The keeper went the correct way with his dive but Lampard found the bottom corner with his spot kick for his 22nd Champions League goal. Chelsea were 2-0 up on aggregate with 20 minutes of the second leg played.

Five minutes later, there was more vulnerability at the back from Benfica when everyone missed a Cech long punt. Torres ran clear but wide and then picked out no one in blue with his ball across.

Aimar made it three Benfica bookings for dissent and four overall before his side came close to a goal with that rarest of sights in the modern game, a free-kick routine. Initially played out wide, it was eventually nodded down to Carodozo who beat Cech with his shot but Terry blocked on the line and Ivanovic cleared.

Chelsea v Benfica


Ivanovic was the first Chelsea name in the book on 37 minutes for a trip on Gaitan after the previously high-standard Mikel and Ramires conspired to give away the ball. The Benfica free-kick that followed was played straight into the Chelsea wall.

The cards kept coming on this stop-start evening and when Pereira slid his studs into Mikel's shin, he saw his second yellow and had to walk early down the tunnel.

Chelsea v Benfica

Ramires was cautioned for a late tackle on Bruno Cesar who was now right-back. Prior to that the Brazilian made what was one of very few first-half Chelsea chances, firing across the area but just out of the reach of Torres and Kalou.

Second half
Three minutes after the restart, Cech needed to produce his best save of the game after Cardozo swung a leg at a bouncing ball and sent it towards the top corner. Our keeper dived, extended one of those long arms and sent the ball over.

A minute later and up the other end, Ramires somehow missed the chance for a Chelsea second after Kalou had deceived Bruno Cesar at the far post and shot for the opposite corner. His Brazilian team-mate slid in and made contact but the player rather than the ball ended up in the net.

Chelsea v Benfica

Torres turned sharply inside the area and looked to have placed his shot inside the post but it was deflected just wide and Kalou headed a Mata cross wide. Chelsea had started the second half much better than the first.

A second goal looked like it was coming but Artur saved acrobatically from Mata before Benfica made a surprising substitution, taking off Cardozo and bringing on Oliveira. Chelsea made a sub too, replacing Terry with Cahill. The skipper went straight down the tunnel for treatment.

Chelsea's grip on the half loosened a little when Ivanovic misdirected a header and another substitute, Djalo, had a goal-bound shot deflected wide by Cahill, but then Kalou, who was seeing plenty of ball on the left, should have scored but couldn't beat the keeper from close-range. Against a side with reduced numbers and inexperience in the heart of their defence, the feeling was the Chelsea attackers should be doing better.

Mata was next to shoot wide, having been teed-up by a skilful Kalou pass but although there was more of a goal threat about Chelsea this half, we were looking less secure at the back. Djalo headed a cross just over Cech's crossbar.

On 74 minutes, MIkel spread the play out to Cole who crossed low. Kalou controlled it, spun but shot wide again.

The card count was much reduced in the second half and Cole and David Luiz managed to avoid bookings that would have ruled them out of the first game against Barcelona, but Mikel did pick up a caution for tripping Matic.

On 84 minutes came the Benfica goal. Cech had only just saved well to prevent Djalo heading in but from the corner that followed, Garcia ran unmarked to flick home with his head.