http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 will meet Benfica in the quarterfinals of this season’s Champions League after the draws came out on Friday.
Chelsea made it into the quarterfinals after pulling off a stunning 2nd leg comeback victory against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Napoli-c40003 in the round of 16, which saw them trailing 3-1 after the first leg. But the London based side turned the tables on their Italian opponents,
with an impressive 4-1 victory in the return leg to go through into the next round.
In doing so, they became only the third English team to have trailed by at least a 2 goal margin in a European competition and to eventually go on to claim the tie. Other than Chelsea, only Manchester United and Leeds have achieved this feat before.
Benfica made it into the quarters by beating Zenit St Petersburg 4-3 on aggregate. Benfica lost the first leg of the round of 16 tie to Zenit 3-2, but claimed two precious away goals during the match. They came out 2-0 winners against the Russians in the
return leg to send them through into the next round.
Chelsea will play their first leg at the stadium of lights before they host the Portuguese side at Stamford Bridge in the 2nd leg.
"I think the fact that we play the first game away for us is good." http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Roberto-c31294 Di Matteo assessed.
If the Londoner’s are able to make it through into the semis, they might face the daunting task of playing against the Spanish giants and Champions League holders http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Barcelona-c38604, who are arguably the best club in football at the moment. Barcelona has been placed
with AC Milan in the quarterfinals.
However, Chelsea’s interim manager Roberto Di Matteo was unfazed at the prospects of playing Barcelona later on in the competition and said that his side will take it one match at a time. He also refused to write of AC Milan and believes that the Serie A
side has got what it takes to beat the Spanish.
"Are you writing off AC Milan straight away, as easy as that -the leaders of Serie A? We will take it game by game. That's what I've learnt in my playing career and my coaching career."
Meanwhile Di Matteo believes that Benfica won’t be an easy pushover for his side and said that he has utmost respect for http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Jorge-c19120 Jesus’ team.
"We must give the utmost respect to Benfica and we will focus on that game along with a lot of other important games coming up"
Chelsea are bidding to claim their first Champions League title having come close in 2008 when they lost the final against English rivals Manchester United on penalty shoot-out.
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