Benfica v ChelseaCHELSEA USED to trot out in Champions League quarter-finals with a swagger, their aspirations to claim this club's first European Cup very realistic. Their qualities were so persuasive it seemed only a matter of time before the trophy, like the Premier League, would be theirs. So it says much about the steady erosion of power that, with Benfica awaiting at the Estadio da Luz this evening, the standout quote delivered in the buildup addressed frailty rather than fortitude. Times have changed.
It was Frank Lampard, on Chelsea’s in-house television channel, who delivered the simple if brutally honest assessment of a campaign that has already cost the club one manager and could yet deny them participation in this competition for the first time under Roman Abramovich’s ownership. The England midfielder was addressing the side’s league position rather than their prospects against the Portuguese.
“We’re not as good as we used to be. Chelsea should be in the top four. No disrespect to the other top five clubs but, with the ability we have, we should be in there.”
There were attempts of sorts to offer a more upbeat assessment, suggestions the five-point gap from fourth “has been bigger than that” and that it was “far from over”, but the tone had been set.
The local media in Lisbon has made much in recent days of footage, again on Chelsea TV, that appeared to show Didier Drogba celebrating with a mock “quaking in his boots” routine as the quarter-final draw played out on television back at the club’s Cobham training base.
Chelsea insist the clip has been taken out of context, though the reality is Benfica would have been just as relieved to draw the Premier League club once Apoel Nicosia and Marseille had been paired elsewhere.
The Portuguese are unbeaten in 10 European home games and have lost only once here, to Porto, all season. Chelsea, in contrast, have won only once away from home in Europe since October 2010 – and that at FC Copenhagen, who were in the midst of their winter break – and led only to be pegged back in all of their Champions League trips this term. Valencia and Genk claimed a point.
Some greater solidity on their travels will be required tonight; the competition’s better teams, of which Benfica are one, will surely not prove quite so accommodating when visiting west London from now on in.
Chelsea are newcomers here but Roberto Di Matteo, a stand-in manager whose contract has entered its final four months, has spoken with his compatriot Luciano Spalletti at Zenit St Petersburg, eliminated by Benfica in the previous round, to glean an insight into the threat that awaits.
The interim coach acknowledged Lampard’s honesty, but remains confident. “I still think this Chelsea team is a very good team. Sure, we are used to being in the top two or three, at least, so it’s been hard for us, domestically. But we can still recover.”
Chelsea may start with Fernando Torres rather than Drogba in the hope that slippery counterattacking may secure reward.
Not since 1990 have Benfica reached the last four and, even if he does not start, that video of Drogba has clearly struck a nerve. “Who knows what he was thinking? He might just have been joking, we don’t know,” said the coach, Jorge Jesus. “But Portuguese clubs have eliminated Manchester United and Manchester City, the top two teams in the Premier League, from Europe this season so that should act as an indication of the strengths of Portuguese football. Any response to Didier Drogba we’ll give out on the field.” A testing occasion awaits.
Guardian Service
