Chelsea – Benfica: Blues Get One Up On Jose Mourinho On His Return To The Bridge (1-0)

On what was a poignant & reminiscent night under the lights at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea beat a Jose Mourinho-managed Benfica 1-0 to register their first three points in this season’s UEFA Champions League. An own goal from Richard Rios in the first half gave the Blues the lead, which they hung onto to close out the game for a vital win.

Tactical analysis and match report by Gaurav Krishnan.

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It was a poetic, almost hero’s return for Jose Mourinho to Stamford Bridge; the place where “the special one” was so christened and where he stamped his mark on English football guiding Chelsea to back to back Premier League titles in 2004/05 and 2005/06. While his second stint also led to yet another Premier League trophy, Stamford Bridge was buzzing in expectation as the chants of “Jose Mourinho” rang aroung the stadium despite Mourinho returning in the opposite dugout as manager of Benfica.

“I’ll always be a Blue”, was the message from Mourinho ahead of the game in his presser, acknowledging his history with the club and the history he created as manager of the London outfit as he prepared for his homecoming. But those glory days under Mourinho are now a distant memory for the Blues.


Chelsea have come full circle since those days when Mourinho was recruited by the Roman Abramovich regime after the Portuguese manager guided Porto to Champions League silverware. It’s now perhaps Chelsea 3.0 under the new ownership of Todd Boehly and co., where the club has undergone a shift in ethos and club policy with a youth-centric project envisioned & implemented by the new Chelsea owners.

Enzo Maresca was recruited ahead of the start of last season & Maresca’s first season saw the Blues win the UEFA Conference League, finish in the Premier League top four and win the Club World Cup to be dubbed as ‘World Champions’. Mourinho himself came on the back of being sacked by Turkish outfit Fenerbahce, followed by joining Benfica shortly after, so it was in every sense of the word a typical Mourinho ‘transition’.

Both Mourinho and Maresca couldn’t be more poles apart; their ideologies and tactics, like oil and water. Mourinho, the perennial pragmatist, with his trademark more reactive, anti-football and Maresca of the Guardiolista school, with possession, press and build up.

The game would play out to be a classic battle between both footballing ideologies, with Maresca showcasing his tactical repertoire & adaptability, which was settled in the end by the fine margins of a solitary goal. Richard Rios couldn’t help but stick his foot onto a first time Alejandro Garnacho cross which eventually hit the back of the net. After going 1-0 up, Maresca’s Blues kept the ball & defended playing for transitions, and despite Benfica creating some half-chance openings, the night would belong to Chelsea.

Enzo Maresca lined Chelsea up in a 4-2-3-1 shape. Robert Sanchez started in goal with a back four of Malo Gusto at right-back, Trevoh Chalobah and Benoit Badiashile at center-back and Marc Cucurella at left-back. The midfield pivot was anchored by Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez, while Pedro Neto started down the right flank, Facundo Buonanotte in the no 10 slot and Alejandro Garnacho down the left flank, meanwhile Tyrique George started up front as the false nine.

Jose Mourinho lined Benfica up in a 4-3-3 formation. Anatoliy Trubin started in goal with a back four of Amar Dedic at right-back, Antonio Silva and Nicolas Otamendi at center-back and Samuel Dahl at left-back. Fredrik Aursnes, Enzo Barrenechea and Richard Rios formed the central midfield three while Georgiy Sudakov started down the left wing, Dodi Lukebakio down the right wing and Vangelis Pavlidis started as the central striker.

Maresca Tinkers As Benfica Concede Own Goal

An interesting tweak from Maresca in this game was his tactical approach to build-up.  For a lot of build-up phases, when the Chelsea full-backs pushed slightly higher alongside Caicedo and Enzo, who would drop into the pivot, this became a 2-3-5 or 2-4-4 with both Chelsea CBs splitting wide and the pivot becoming a 2-3 or 2-4.

In their IP shape, Chelsea’s 2-3-5 build-up shape sprung about with the dynamic movement of Enzo Fernandez and Cucurella. The pair rotated with Enzo dropping and Cucurella pushing higher.

Minute 2’ A sequence of Chelsea build-up as Enzo drops into the 2-3 base while Cucurella pushes up against the Benfica back line.

Meanwhile, the 2-4-4 arose when the Chelsea full backs were slightly higher than the CB pair with Enzo dropping alongside Caicedo to make it a 2-4-4. This particularly involved both Chelsea full backs slightly inverting and Enzo dropping into the pivot. The 2-3-5 and 2-4-4 was rather evident from the onset as Chelsea aimed to progress the ball & create attacks.

Minute 9’ Chelsea’s 2-4-4 vs Benfica’s 4-5-1 OOP. Enzo drops into the midfield pivot as both Chelsea full backs push slightly higher forming a 2-4 base. Eventually Cucurella pushes higher as it becomes a 2-3 base again.

When Chelsea had the ball higher up the pitch, i.e. in the Benfica half they reverted to their usual 3-1-6 and 3-2-5. Badiashile was the main ball-playing center-back and he excelled in possession in this game, registering a 96% pass accuracy. Meanwhile, Enzo Fernandez dropped into half-spaces as an inverted pivot in the left midfield space to facilitate vertical progression when required.

Enzo aimed to receive between the lines to link with Buonanotte and the Chelsea wingers, disrupting Benfica’s midfield tracking and press, this involved Enzo stepping deep into the Chelsea back three to get the ball and progress it forward as well.

Minute 22’ Chelsea’s build up becomes a 3-box-3 as Enzo drops into the back three to progress the ball. Tyrique George drops from striker as Buonanotte picks up a pocket of space while Gusto inverts alongside Caicedo.

In their OOP shape, Mourinho deployed Benfica in a 5-4-1 to 4-5-1 mid-to-low block. It was a 5-4-1 when Benfica were deeper in their half near their own box, while it became a 4-5-1 when they pressed higher in their own half. Mourinho aimed to congest the midfield & get numbers in behind with the Benfica wingers tracking Chelsea’s full-backs and midfielders man-marking half-spaces where Enzo Fernandez and Buonanotte operated. It was a typical Mourinho set up as they looked to stay compact and win the ball deep and then look to break and transition into attack.

Chelsea employed a proactive, high press to force turnovers in Benfica’s half. This involved doubling up on the Benfica full backs with Garnacho & Cucurella aggressively targeting the Benfica wide players when the ball was passed out wide in Benfica’s build up.

Chelsea boxed the Benfica full-backs in the corner when they received the ball, blocking passing outlets to the Benfica midfield with Chelsea’s midfielders jumping to press the Benfica midfield three as the ball was passed towards them & this resulted in Chelsea forcing several turnovers in the first half & in the game. Chelsea’s PPDA, high turnovers and danger zone ball winning exemplified their aggressive man-to-man press.  

Chelsea 1 : 0 Benfica

-Penbox shots: 5 - 7
-Deep Entries: 10 - 12
-Buildup completion: 89.0% - 83.8%
-PPDA: 5.5 - 12.0
-High turnovers: 7 - 5
-Danger Zone losses 18 - 42#UCL #CHEBEN

(via @markstatsbot) pic.twitter.com/F0vkC7wNTa

— Statocaster Gaurav (@statocastgaurav) October 2, 2025

The game’s defining moment came as early as the 17th minute when a right flank overload saw Pedro Neto whip in a dangerous cross into the box at the far post. Alejandro Garnacho made up ground and got to Neto’s cross first time with a cutback/cross on the volley. Richard Rios, who was tracking back, stuck his leg out in an attempt to block Garnacho’s ball in, but the ball came at such a high speed that it deflected off Rios’ leg and flew into the net.

Chelsea asserted their dominance and control of the ball as the first half ended 1-0 to Chelsea with the Blues averaging 66% possession to Benfica’s 34%.


A Clash Of Ideologies

Mourinho teams are well known for having much lesser of the ball in possession, but nonetheless, Benfica used a 4-3-3 in their IP shape. Rios’ hybrid role which involved dropping deep or advancing to link defense to attack, enabled counters in numbers via the forward channels and Lukebakio’s 1v1s on the right against Cucurella.

Minute 20’ Benfica’s IP in a 4-3-3 and a rare instance of Benfica playing through the Chelsea man-to-man press.

The Benfica wingers tracked Chelsea’s full-backs OOP but switched to wide overloads on the ball aiming to exploit spaces in behind Chelsea’s back line when Gusto and Cucurella pushed forward.

Benfica’s 43.9% possession at the end of the game reflected their Mourinho-ushered pragmatism and low-risk approach, as they prioritised defensive transitions over dominance on the ball. However, their lack of end product in the final third limited converting the openings they created.

Meanwhile, for Chelsea it was all about keep-ball as they began the second half. They had large spells of possession in the mid-second half as Maresca rang in the changes, bringing on Estevao, Joao Pedro and Jamie Gittens. It was a classic case, as the old debate rages, between possession (for Chelsea) and position (for Benfica).

Sections of the Chelsea fan base have been critical about the Blues & Maresca in that when there are games there to be taken by the scruff of the neck, they take the foot off the gas and carefully caress and manage their 1-0 lead after going in front, and this game was similar. Chelsea’s xG numbers also reflected this, with a 0.26 xG in the first half and 0.67 xG in the second half.

The game became a bit scrappy with fouls on either side and after deciding to defend their 1-0 lead, the end of the second half would see roles reverse.

An Inverse Mourinho

OOP Chelsea deployed a 4-2-3-1/4-4-1-1 block, and the message was clear that they wanted to hold their 1-0 lead. Mourinho looked to his bench using all five substitutes as Benfica aimed for a late salvo after the 75th-minute mark.

Meanwhile, Maresca brought on Reece James for Gusto and Josh Acheampong for Badiashile as he looked to close out the game.

Chelsea’s press was still high when Benfica had the ball in their own half. However, when the ball was in Chelsea’s half, Maresca deployed the Blues in their 4-2-3-1/4-4-1-1 block and aimed to hit Benfica on the break. This was straight out of the Mourinho playbook as Maresca resorted to a defend-and-counter strategy.

The game became end-to-end and transitional in the final ten to fifteen minutes as Benfica searched for an equaliser. This was evident as Benfica had 54% possession compared to Chelsea’s 46% in the second half.

Although the defend & counter approach was the premise, Chelsea still kept the ball when they had to, passing it to tick the time away. There was late drama as Chelsea substitute Joao Pedro was sent off after picking up a second yellow for a dangerous high boot in the 90+5th minute, reducing Chelsea to ten men for the final couple of minutes.

But in the end, the Blues saw it through with Benfica barely troubling Sanchez into any saves as Chelsea shut down the visitors to secure the three points.

Takeaways

Maresca’s Chelsea picked up a vital win after a poor run of recent results. Furthermore, it was a much-needed win for the Champions League aspirations, picking up their first three points of the campaign after being blown away by Bayern in their first game. Maresca’s tactical adaptability won over Mourinho’s one-dimensional tactics, and Maresca wasn’t afraid to give Mourinho a taste of his own medicine, although with that dash of Maresca flair.

For Mourinho and Benfica, this was a game where they were toothless in attack. Despite fashioning a handful of half chances, they managed to create just one big chance in the game. They lacked any incision and truly didn’t trouble Robert Sanchez in the Chelsea goal. In the end, it was a bittersweet homecoming for Mourinho as the crowd sang his name while he left his old home ground Stamford Bridge with a 1-0 defeat.

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