Chelsea flirt with danger before beating Benfica

By Mike Collett

LONDON (Reuters) –

If Chelsea flirt with danger against Barcelona like they did at home to Benfica on Wednesday, their poor conversion rate of

one Champions League final from five previous last-four appearances is likely to continue.

Chelsea, who looked second

best for long periods, went through to their sixth semi in the last nine seasons after winning 2-1 in the second leg and 3-1

on aggregate but they were close to losing the tie on away goals in the closing stages.

Instead the Londoners made it

safe in stoppage time through a thunderbolt from Portuguese Raul Meireles, heckled in the first leg at Benfica last week for

his previous Porto connections.

Chelsea took the lead with a Frank Lampard penalty after 21 minutes and had the chance

to take a firm grip on the game when Benfica skipper Maxi Pereira was shown a second yellow card for a rash challenge on John

Obi Mikel five minutes before halftime.

But instead Chelsea allowed Benfica to take the initiative for much of the

second half and although the Premier League side did have chances, it was the visitors who got the important second goal when

Javi Garcia headed home on 85 minutes.

That made the aggregate score 2-1 to Chelsea but another goal for Benfica would

have brought them level at 2-2 and they would have qualified instead.

Substitute Nelson Oliveira and Pablo Aimar both

went close to getting the goal that would have eliminated Chelsea but in the last significant action of the game, Chelsea

broke.

Substitute Meireles ran unchallenged for almost 70 metres before smashing the ball past Artur to seal

Chelsea’s place in the last four as they seek a first ever European Cup title.

Benfica coach Jorge Jesus told

reporters: “We’ve been the best team in Lisbon and London and even though we played most of the match with 10 men tonight,

we made Chelsea look ordinary.

“We pushed them back into the final third and after coming back to 1-1 we nearly scored

with a couple of really good chances, but in the end suffered on the last counter-attack and were finally beaten.

“But

we go out as the better team with our heads held high. Of course it is frustrating to lose but we weren’t helped by some

poor referring decisions either.”

Benfica had 22 goal attempts with eight of them on target compared to Chelsea’s 15

with four on target and if they had grabbed a second in the dying minutes, the hosts would only have had themselves to blame

for not wrapping up the victory earlier.

RESPONDED STRONGLY

Chelsea’s interim coach Roberto Di Matteo – whose

odds of earning the permanent job get shorter every day – knew his side were slightly fortunate but also knows Champions

League glory is all that really matters to owner Roman Abramovich.

“We expected a hard game and we made it a little

more difficult for ourselves by not scoring the second goal from all our chances in the second half,” the Italian

said.

“We did not keep possession enough with the extra man and we were not as sparkling as we could have been. But we

are pleased we won the game to go through and over the two legs I think we were the better side and deserved to win

it.”

Benfica started – and finished – as the brighter, more attacking, more cohesive side but Chelsea went ahead when

Lampard scored a penalty after Garcia clattered into Ashley Cole.

Lampard converted even though Artur got a hand to

the ball.

Benfica were then reduced to 10 men after Pereira recklessly picked up a second booking but the Portuguese

responded strongly after the break with Aimar forcing Petr Cech into one of a number of fine saves.

“Cech was their

best player, that says a lot,” said Jesus.

Chelsea did defend well especially when their skipper John Terry, who went

off after an hour as a precaution after taking a knock, cleared a shot from Oscar Cardozo off the line in the first

half.

While there is little doubt Chelsea’s results and displays have improved since Di Matteo took over from the

sacked Andre Villas-Boas a month ago, with seven wins out of nine, they still look short of flair and

imagination.

Striker Fernando Torres, who has at least started scoring again, worked tirelessly but is still misfiring

in front of goal while Ramires summed up their erratic play when he trod on the ball and heeled it away – a metre out from an

open goal.

Benfica, who won the second and last of their two European Cups 50 years ago, came into the match having

scored in all of their Champions League away games and went out with that record intact but it was little

consolation.

Chelsea though, having protected their own formidable home record, are left relishing facing Barcelona

again after losing to them in an acrimonious semi-final three years ago.

“They are one of the best teams in the world

and have reached the final and won the trophy many times and we are looking forward to it,” said Di Matteo.