Chelsea beat Benfica, but Maresca far from Mourinho’s legacy

LONDON — Jose Mourinho suggested there are many Chelsea managers who live in his shadow, and Chelsea’s unconvincing 1-0 win over Benfica offered a reminder of the work Enzo Maresca still must do to earn the same level of infatuation.

It is a curious position for Maresca to be in to some extent. After all, he is a champion of Europe and the world after winning both the UEFA Conference League and the FIFA Club World Cup in the past few months.

And yet, as he noted the build-up to this game, the Chelsea fans do not sing Maresca’s name, which Mourinho’s return highlighted starkly. In the second minute, supporters stood to serenade Mourinho, the man who delivered them three Premier League titles and gave Chelsea a ruthless streak that endured throughout the Roman Abramovich era.

Those same fans remain divided on their view of the current manager — not unhappy to the extent a mutiny is imminent, but unconvinced Maresca’s brand of football is the best way to extract the maximum from such an expensively assembled squad.

A narrow win over Benfica at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday will have done nothing to quiet the debate.

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Chelsea won the game with the only goal coming in the 18th minute when Pedro Neto’s sweeping ball found Alejandro Garnacho and the former Manchester United winger’s cross was turned into his own net by Richard Ríos’ own goal.

Neto was lively, Moisés Caicedo was again heavily influential in midfield and Garnacho was bright before fading as the game wore on. But they were collectively unconvincing.

Dodi Lukebakio struck the post early on and Fredrik Aursnes was unable to finish a promising second-half move as Benfica made this a nervy evening for a team that had lost three of its previous four games.

And after losing to Bayern Munich on Matchday 1, Chelsea needed this win. As ugly as it was, the result was all that mattered.

In fairness to Maresca, there were extenuating circumstances. He is without four center backs, key creator Cole Palmer and summer signing Liam Delap while João Pedro was only deemed fit enough to play the final half-hour. As it was, Pedro still didn’t manage to finish the game as two yellow cards meant he became the third Chelsea player to be sent off in four matches.

These factors led in part to Maresca naming a team with an average age of just 24, the youngest Champions League lineup in Chelsea’s history. They had only 42 appearances in the competition collectively. For context, this was Mourinho’s 146th Champions League match.

“We lost at Bayern, but I think the team was good. We played face to face there against a team that’s always been in the quarterfinals and semifinals in the last five, six or seven years,” Maresca said. “For us, the Champions League is a journey that started this season and hopefully game after game, we can get better.

“We needed the win for different reasons. It was good to win tonight in any case. Sometimes you need to learn to win in an ugly way like in the last minutes of the game. At least we learn how to win a game with a red card.”

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There is always a performative element about Mourinho in situations such as this, and he hasn’t always received a warm reception at his former club. But there was a sincerity with which his contribution to the club was acknowledged by grateful supporters.

It was a particularly curious sight to see him back in the dugout he occupied as Chelsea boss across spells between 2004 and 2007, and 2013 and 2015. Mauricio Pochettino swapped the home technical area at the start of his season in charge — 2023-24 — to occupy a more central position on the pitch and so Mourinho’s vantage point Tuesday will have felt especially familiar.

Since arriving in London on Monday, there were many staff and officials at Chelsea who sought out Mourinho for a moment together to mark his return, but it was only German referee Daniel Siebert who got him a card, a yellow in stoppage time for protesting a foul with his typical vigor.

“I don’t feed myself with these memories,” Mourinho said afterward. “I feed myself with victories.”

Earlier in the game, Mourinho tried to act — somewhat unnecessarily — as peacemaker when Benfica fans threw objects at their former player Enzo Fernández when attempting to take a corner while he later entered the field late on to retrieve the ball, seemingly just to make sure he remained near the center of attention.

It is part of the 62-year-old’s composition, one reason why so many fans adore him and his successors in west London have struggled to match his enduring impact. Maresca’s is the latest to try and next up are Premier League champions Liverpool. It doesn’t get any easier.