Chelsea created history as they became the first team to win the Europa League while holding the Champions league as they beat Benfica 2-1 at the Amsterdam Arena.
The Portuguese side was the better team during most part of the game and was unlucky as they missed several chances.
They started strongly and looked comfortable on the ball as Chelsea took some time to settle down and adapt to the speed of their opponent’s game. Oscar Cardozo, Eduardo Salvio and Nicolas Gaitan missed chances and Chelsea’s Oscar was the first to threaten Benfica’s goal but shot straight at Artur. Benfica kept dominating but Frank Lampard who is now the all time top scorer for the Blues had a swerving shot saved acrobatically by Artur after having gone the wrong way.
Benfica continued pressing after the break and Cardozo’s 51st minute header from a brilliant cross was ruled out for offside. It was Chelsea who got the breakthrough on the hour mark when Petr Cech’s throw found Fernando Torres at the halfway mark and the Spaniard did well to break and fight off Luisao before keeping his composure to go past Artur and score from a tight angle.
Benfica restored parity when they were awarded a penalty after Cesar Azpilicueta handled the ball in the box and Cardozo stepped up to rifle the ball home. Torres had a claim for a penalty waved off after tangling with Luisao who was beaten by the striker’s neat turn with the ball. Cardozo then struck a sweet volley which was tipped over the bar by Cech and also missed a chance from the resulting corner.
Frank Lampard saw an 88th minute thunderbolt of a strike hit the crossbar from outside the box and when extra time beckoned, Branislav Ivanovic leapt highest to meet a Mata corner and guided the ball into the far corner much to the despair of Benfica who almost equalised straightaway but Cardozo was denied by a brilliant tackle by Gary Cahill.
Chelsea became only the 4th team to win all of UEFA’s top competitions emulating the success of Juventus, Ajax and Bayern Munich.
