With Eden Hazard left out through injury and Victor Moses not fit to start, Chelsea began this blog with Ramires on the right hand side and Oscar on the left. Frank Lampard and David Luiz used the central midfield postures, with Juan Mata operating as the advanced midfielder.
Benfica left Pablo Aimar on the bench, but began which has a very dangerous looking top three of Oscar Cardozo, Salvio along with Nico Gaitan. At a corner for them, the pacey, powerful set of Luisao and Ezequiel Garay were tasked with coping with Fernando Torres.
To say it required Chelsea a while set off would be generous. They never really looked settled within their positions, which was probably into too many players using in relatively unfavoured positions. Unfortunately for Rafael Benitez, i thought this was telling in the beginning stages.
Ramires, in specified, looked lost in your partner's right midfield berth. He was caught out constantly by the clever movement of Gaitan together with failed to offer any variety of sustained cover to Cesar Azpilicueta.
David Luiz and Frank Lampard did not look at ease as well. In the 4-2-3-1 system, the understanding between the two sitting midfielders is paramount to all of those other team being able to function. But Luiz and Lampard never really looked on a single wavelength, with both having looked much more comfortable with a more defensively minded player adjacent to them.
The duo were often past the boundary apart and indisciplined in their defensive positioning. As an effect, Benfica played around with these ease.
Nico Gaitan and Salvio got also had lots of joy in wide zones. Attacking on the in the garden or inside, both looked a real threat as Chelsea struggled to take care of any shape. Gaitan especially was continually floating within the space behind Luiz and in to do so, dragging Ramires into certainly no mans land.
This is turn opened up space down the left flank with the forward bursts of Melgarejo. This caused Chelsea no terminate of problems. It wasn't for some poor finishing and some timely slips, Benfica has been out of sight.
Benitez, usually an awfully reactive tactician, initially do little to stem a waves of Benfica attacks. Chelsea were becoming desperate in their defending and giving gone numerous free-kicks in damaging areas.
Juan Mata was not really willing to fall in and help block the middle off. He played as more of an second striker, often absorbing positions beyond Torres. Resultantly, Luiz and Lampard were continually outnumbered just by Benfica's central trio, exactly who pressed quickly when Chelsea ended up being in possession.
This required that whilst Mata has been regularly in space, Luiz and Lampard did not find him in any sort of real threatening areas. Chelsea were penned in through the Benfica pressure and thus, started to take a lot more direct approach.
Chelsea started to travel direct to Torres in need of an outlet. The Spaniard held that ball up well and allowed Chelsea to produce from the right approach, as the English facet looked to exploit the room left by the attacking runs of Melgarejo.
It's only really ten units before half-time that Chelsea had a sustained spell associated with possession, which again started coming from Torres bringing others right into play after controlling a protracted pass. Lampard worked an opening relating to the edge of the box which forced a superb save from Artur. I thought this was Chelsea's only real opportunity on the frustrating half.
Benfica came released looking strong after 50 percent time, whereas Chelsea continued to consider Torres early. The Spanish front-man battled well with the imposing Luisao, spinning in behind him a few times and springing a number of dangerous attacks.
It was this direct tactic that brought Chelsea their cracking open goal. Torres turned Garay easily on the halfway line before bursting in the middle and finishing along with exceptional composure.
The goal gave Chelsea a giant lift. They looked sharper, quicker and more significantly more confident in their participate in. But as with Chelsea's goal, Benfica also netted resistant to the run of play.
Within Benfica's first real fighting foray after conceding, Azpilicueta conceded a good penalty and Cardozo, for the reason that he often does, sent with consummate ease.
The latter stages started to be rather scrappy, Benfica made two changes prior to their equalizer and despite getting back on grade terms, never really appeared as settled in ownership. Perhaps of most significance, Ola John came on to play off the left-hand edge, with Gaitan reverting to help left-back. The equalizer came too early for them, as they simply were left to play thirty minutes of the game using a team lopsided with attacking players.
Ramires and Azpilicueta looked much more comfortable defending against John's direct style as opposed to the Gaitan's subtle mobility. As a result, Chelsea could actually pin back Benfica all the way down their left-hand side plus the Portuguese outfit's main attacking source suddenly became some defensive concern.
Suddenly it was Benfica who has several square pegs in round of golf holes. Chelsea's players, in comparison, grew into their roles as the game wore on.
The Paraguayan managed to fashion a few half chances, but Chelsea looked relatively at ease with this approach. The English side were around happy to sit full and hit Benfica in the break through the tempo of Ramires and Torres.
The former in particular had a lot more joy getting at makeshift left-back Gaitan as Mata almost played him in a couple of times. Eventually, it was his strenuous slalom forward in stoppage time that earned Chelsea the corner that they won the game.
A result that was perhaps harsh on Benfica, as they played the better football and had the greater chances throughout the competition.
But in Rafael Benitez along with Fernando Torres, Chelsea have two figures which were primed for performing in European football. For each one of Torres's troubles this months, he has been excellent inside Europa League. His finish in the final showcased the type of composure Benfica lacked.
It is worth observing that Benitez failed to manufacture a single substitution throughout the length of the contest. Maybe this was done with extra-time in mind, but it also helped those players operating in unfamiliar roles to get acclimatized to their setting.
This was clearly the case, for as the game creeped within the latter stages, Chelsea always looked the most likely to nick a victor.
Link: Jaume Biggs, the trainer that has left its mark in Manresa
