UEFA Champions League: Jesus Vows To Wreck Chelsea

Jorge Jesus says his SL Benfica side will be “inspired” in tonight’s Champions League quarter-final tie against Chelsea, which he says is a must win for the club as they target the last four spot.

•Jorge Jesus, Benfica Coach.

To him, the encounter will test their reserves of patience and experience. But, his Chelsea counterpart Roberto Di Matteo believes the Londoners’ form is improving, and are targeting an away goal in Lisbon.

“I didn’t speak with Jose Mourinho or Andre Villas-Boas about Chelsea, because our opponents are a well-known team that we can see playing in almost any match. The fans will see a strong Benfica tonight, against another strong side. We have to be inspired, in defence and in attack; we have to win. We are strong at home, but we’re facing a very experienced team used to playing Champions League finals and semi-finals so we have to be focused in order to win,” Jesus said.

“The tie won’t be resolved tonight; it’s just the first match.” Benfica are a more experienced side nowadays; we know better how to control any anxiety and we cannot start looking for a goal from the start, we have to be patient.”

Chelsea have four players who worked with me before David Luiz, Ramires, Hilário and Paulo Ferreira. They know my way of working and if Di Matteo talked to them about us he did well, but we also know them well and have some new things to show and football is always changing. You have to remember that Benfica and Sporting Lisbon eliminated Manchester United and Manchester City, the two top teams in England, from Europe,” he said.

Chelsea’s interim manager Roberto Di Matteo, however, believes scoring an away goal tonight will be a plus for the English team.

“We want to score an away goal and try to avoid them in order to have a more peaceful second leg. Benfica play with great intensity, with lots of pressure, they’re a very skilful side. I saw them play many matches, both in Europe and also their domestic league. They have many good players such as Óscar Cardozo, Pablo Aimar, Nicolás Gaitán, Bruno César or Rodrigo.

“We are getting better, we are scoring more away goals and we’ll try again to score today in order to have a better match at Stamford Bridge”. The team is in good shape – defensively stronger and as for the strikers not scoring I don’t care who scores as long as the ball is going in. I have a lot of faith in these players and in this team.

They are proving that they are still good – we are in the semis of the FA Cup and the quarter-finals of the Champions League,” he said.

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