Closed Benfica 0-1 Chelsea

[shellpick 13]

Hopefully the next round against Benfica Torres can be the striker on the match because he is faster. I love Drogba more than Torres but honestly he can not be so fast. Since we have an away goal, Benfica will play a attack style and it is a good time to strike back with fast players. Maybe Ramirez and Sturridge will contribute a lot.

[pachman40 357]

Getting back to the match.... we're having a couple of interesting discussions on the portuguese forums regarding how we approach not only the second leg of the Chelsea tie but also the fixture congestion we have. We all know that Chelsea has a crazy couple of weeks and that forced a lot of the rotation / starting choices last game by RDM. The fortunate part for Chelsea is that there is depth everywhere and when Ferreira, Kalou, Mikel, even Torres come in they are strong enough and more importantly hungry enough so that the team's level doesn't fall off drastically. At Benfica, we have to be honest and say that we don't have the same depth. We have to play our strongest 11 most every game with some flexibility in the attacking side. Our defense and mids have no depth and flexibility whatsoever. That's why you saw a substitution like Matic coming in forcing Witzel to play out of position on the wing where he has zero influence. That's also why Jardel got a sniff of the field when he deserves to be nowhere near it. Anyways, that's Benfica's problem to have and Chelsea's problem to exploit.

To give some perspective here, Benfica are fighting for the title, 2 points behind Braga and 1 point behind Porto. The league title is our highest priority since its the most realistic. Nobody in Portugal believe there's a chance in hell to win the CL so we have to balance things. We play Braga on Saturday in a game that can make or break our season. Then comes the Chelsea second leg followed by another huge game against Sporting in the league. We also have the league cup final coming up where we had to beat Porto in the semis within the last couple of weeks to advance.

We are doing all this without the flexibility we would like to rotate the squad. Therefore we have to pick our battles and I think the team is getting tired and worn out. This is not an excuse since its Benfica's responsibility to maintain a deep squad that can fight on 3 fronts at once. So now comes the question for Benfica, do we leave it all out on the field and fight tooth and nail against a very strong Braga team and just let the chips fall against Chelsea? I think that will be the strategy and I think Chelsea will benefit from that mentality. If we lose to Braga on Saturday though then we'll have to put everything out there on Wednesday. For us its all about whether or not we win the league since we won't finish worse than 3rd and we'll have Champions League next season. Huge game Saturday which will impact our philosophy for Wednesday.

Chelsea, from where I'm sitting, are going to push all-in on Wednesday knowing that 4th is unlikely and knowing that winning the CL might me the only way to get in next season. As a Chelsea fan, its a positive scenario that will prevent complacency and over-confidence in the team. I don't have a good feeling as a Benfica fan going into the second leg, but if we pop in a quick goal in the first 15 mins then all of a sudden its advantage Benfica. We'll know more after Saturday's game what kind of strategy Benfica will use, until then its not worth speculating.

Pulling my blue shirt on for a minute, I hope we come out guns blazing on Wednesday and take the game to Benfica, that's the key to victory and advancing. Sitting back and playing on the counter once again is only inviting danger. Come on blues!!!! ......Pulling my Benfica shirt back on, I'm hoping for a big win Saturday so that our focus returns to the league, although that will likely be at the expense of the CL.

[Madmax 9,219]

Some Chelsea fans are real tossers too, but I don't let that influence how I feel about the club in general. Benfica fans are proud and sometimes a little too defensive, but the club itself is respectful, storied, and nothing to look down at the way some Chelsea fans and most British fans do. Its hard to stay classy when people dismiss us simply cuz of the league we play in. I hate Porto with a passion but I still give them a lot of respect for what they've done in Europe recently, and even they don't get the respect they deserve for their accomplishments. Frustrating, but I'm still enjoying myself. Cheers!

You yourself have been decent but some have come on here ranting about a perceived slight by Drogba, failing to see reason. A vast majority of the members here have tried to calm things down but to no avail. Then there are posts accusing us of being disrespectful and belittling Benfica while all we're doing is celebrating an excellent - and unlikely - result. You'd be doing the same were you in our shoes. We've had a mightily frustrating season and we have every right to rejoice when things go our way. Celebrating a good first leg result doesn't equate to an automatic semifinal place and people here, myself included have been at pains to point out that it's only half time in the tie. Yet when posters keep banging on about perceived insults, it gets a little tedious, that's all.

Glad you're enjoying yourself btw, it's what the forum is for. Hope for a cracking return leg at the Bridge.

[Strike 6,965]

Some Chelsea fans are real tossers too, but I don't let that influence how I feel about the club in general. Benfica fans are proud and sometimes a little too defensive, but the club itself is respectful, storied, and nothing to look down at the way some Chelsea fans and most British fans do. Its hard to stay classy when people dismiss us simply cuz of the league we play in.

This is a forum. Argue all you like but don't fight...Benfica might not suck but they did play shit.... u can say jt handball, luiz cleared off the line, all u like but the bottom line was both teams played shit but chelsea executed its plans tactically.....and this being a chelsea forum, sometimes celebrations of a win go over the top but in no way are v disregarding benfica (u scored twice at old trafford, for gods sake)

[Steve 10,227]

[Drogzola 283]

So many people just talk shit, Chelsea didn't play well and they had lucky because we have Emerson and Jardel in the left side and Torres wants to cross to far post and cross to Kalou. John Terry and Mikel can play with hands that nothing happens, Luiz stop a goal from Cardozo, Cech did well and nothing more, in the next match Benfica will be much more offensive and you don't think that would be easy, you have a very poor team for someone who wants to win de CL or the PL, many of you think that you are better than you really are. Just saying...

[BlueLion. 21,491]

^ ffs, what really is the need of "posts" like that? Are you being deliberately volatile or is acting the muppet a natural talent?

[Drogzola 283]

^ ffs, what really is the need of "posts" like that? Are you being deliberately volatile or is acting the muppet a natural talent?

It was just my honest feeling I felt after I read his post. Its actually not to be volatile its more out of jest.

[Ollie 4,400]

Napoli fans are much calmer and civilized than these Benfica lot aren't they. I was even playing fifa online on wednesday night and some knob used Barca against me surprise surprise they all do, and all he kept saying was Chelsea are shit, we've won 2 European cups and got into 7 finals, Benfica for life, Chelsea 1 final, 0 titles. Really annoying, i just asked him how old he was when they won the last one and blocked him (and whipped him 5-1).

And here, they are so fucking hard done by and bitter it seems. There certainly wont be any fan friendships with this lot.

For the record... Chelsea are not great this season, no but we're still better than your fucking lot and we deserved to win that game. If you turn it around, we have to be awfully shit and you need a miracle.