RAUL ROCKET
Late scare but Roman’s back on right road
IN the end it was the Champions League encounter that had everything. A penalty, a red card, a sheer sense of panic when a Benfica side down to 10 men somehow scored with five minutes remaining; there was even a furious Jesus and a rather more content Roman.
Jorge Jesus was enraged by what he felt was the decisive moment in this game.
The moment Yannick Djalo ducked out of a 50-50 ball with Raul Meireles and so enabled the Portuguese midfielder to score the secondhalf stoppage time goal that spared Chelsea yet another defeat in a competition that has proved so painful for them in the past.
The pressure was enormous, Benfica pressing in a manner that would have alarmed Roberto Di Matteo as much as it did Chelsea’s increasingly anxious supporters. This is certainly no way to be playing Barcelona.
With John Terry already off, a rib injury forcing him to make way for Gary Cahill, Chelsea had lost their security blanket. Having allowed Javi Garcia to score with a soft, near-post header it seemed the visitors might just land a second, knock-out blow.
There was a chance it might come when John Obi Mikel needlessly conceded a free kick.
But Mikel quickly made amends when he met Pablo Aimar’s delivery with a thumping header and Meireles did the rest, beating Djalo to the bouncing ball with a high, out-stretched boot before running 40 yards and beating Artur with a terrific drive.
As Stamford Bridge erupted with a mixture of joy and relief, Jesus erupted with anger, marching out to see Djalo at the sound of the final whistle and giving the Portuguese forward the most public of dressing downs.
In truth, there were others he could have blamed. Benfica did trouble Chelsea enough last night to worry Di Matteo when Messi and Co come next. But their own indiscipline did for Benfica here, with Garcia’s foul on Ashley Cole for the penalty as reckless as the studs up challenge on John Obi Mikel that earned Maxi Pereira — Benfica’s captain — a second yellow card shortly before the break.
Even then, Chelsea made this tough for themselves, sitting far too deep and allowing a 10-man team with an already makeshift defence — Garcia normally plays in midfield — to dominate them.
That will leave Di Matteo with much to ponder before Chelsea contest their sixth Champions League semi-final in nine years. If they are as cautious as this, and as profligate in front of goal when they do get opportunities, Barcelona will punish them.
Di Matteo cannot hide from that, just as he can no longer insist it would be disrespectful to both AC Milan and Benfica to look beyond this Champions League quarterfinal. Chelsea are now playing Barcelona, just as the form guide suggested they would.
Before we look ahead, the mere fact that they have secured another date with the Catalans should be acknowledged.
Yes, this was uncomfortable. But after losing so heavily in Naples under the guidance of Andre VillasBoas, it still amounts to some achievement and the man who took his place in the dug-out for only his third European game as a manager once again deserves much credit.
If that second leg against Napoli was something of a blur, a product of naked defiance, gritty determination and some great attacking football, the back-to-back defeats of Benfica have been more intelligent and methodical.
In Lisbon the interim first-team coach got his team selection and his tactics spot on and here at Stamford Bridge he made another major call that was decisive.
Frank Lampard was left on the bench at the Estadio Da Luz but he was back in the starting line-up here and what a good decision it proved.
There is, after all, no better Chelsea player when it comes to taking penalties, particularly when such an opportunity presents itself and the stakes are as high as this.
With Garcia’s foul on Cole came the chance not only to double Chelsea’s advantage but ease that pressure Di Matteo’s side had been under for what was a chastening first 21 minutes for the home side.
Chelsea looked nervous, unsettled, lacking confidence and composure and unable to escape their own half.
But the man who stepped up so memorably in 2008 to score that penalty against Liverpool in the semi-finals in front of the same Matthew Harding end converted when it mattered most again.
It crowned a fine display for the 33-year-old. One that saw him driving forward from midfield but also tracking back to assist his defensive colleagues. He also made some important tackles last night.
Jesus would have been unhappy with the way Chelsea opened the scoring, given it was Oscar Cardozo’s rash challenge on Luiz that earned Chelsea the free-kick from which they scored.
Once he had recovered, Luiz played the ball across field to Terry, who exchanged passes with Salomon Kalou before dropping a delightful first-time chip in front of the rapidly advancing Cole.
A super penalty from Lampard followed, the England midfielder scoring despite the fact that Artur guessed the right way.
Chelsea continued to live dangerously, Branislav Ivanovic clearing a Cardozo strike off the line when Petr Cech was beaten.
When Pereira then went in studs up on John Obi Mikel in the 41st minute and earned himself a second yellow card, Chelsea should have retaken control.
They certainly had chances to increase their lead, with Kalou sending a shot against a post and both Juan Mata and Kalou again forcing excellent saves from Artur.
At the opposite end, Cech had to produce a fine save to deny Cardozo. Just as he did to divert a header from Djalo wide.
It was from the resulting corner, delivered by Aimar, that Benfica scored, Garcia getting ahead of Luiz and Fernando Torres at the near post. Fortunately for Chelsea, though, Djalo missed his header and Meireles did the rest.