Chelsea - Benfica Match Preview
Chelsea managed a 0-1 away win at the Estadio da Luz against Benfica last week, a 1 goal advantage means practically nothing in the Champions League.
"It's a fact that we always score away in the Champions League, because we try and play really offensively. We also know we have no other possibility. If we want to qualify to the Semi Finals we have to score goals and we have to quality both individual and collective to beat Chelsea"
The key, according to Jorge Jesus is to equalise early, preferably in the first 45 minutes.
"Chelsea has the advantage, but we have the same mentality as if we would have won. If we had the luck Chelsea had in Lisbon, we would've won. We dominated them but they had the luck in the game".
Roberto Di Matteo, Chelsea's caretaker manager warns people that "the tie is far from over, Benfica have scored in all their away games in Europe this season, so it's a difficult task ahead of us." To have a chance of winning, Di Matteo says Chelsea have to "approach this game like we did the Napoli game"
Benfica don't have the best run against English teams, but this doesn't put the Portuguese boss off "Each match is a different story; we are going to play against a Chelsea that has an advantage, which makes things a bit harder, but not impossible".
Benfica might have to add Luisao to their injured players list, with Garay, Jardel and Miguel Vitor out, he is the only central defender he will spend the morning running through some tests, and it will not be known until later in the evening if he's fit to play.
Benfica have scored in every away game that they've had in this campaign of the Champions League but on the other hand Chelsea have won all their home games so far, scoring 14 goals and conceding only 1.
The best news for Chelsea is that Torres looks like he's back to his former self, scoring goals and proving to be decisive during matches.
The winner of this clash will face current title holders Barcelona, who beat AC Milan yesterday 3-1 at the Camp Nou.
Source: DSG
Source: DSG