Jos\u00e9 Mourinho\u2019s highly-anticipated return to Stamford Bridge as Benfica manager ended in frustration on Tuesday night, as the Lisbon side fell 1-0 to Chelsea in Champions League match day two action in London.<\/p>\n
Sections of the home crowd at Stamford Bridge warmly greeted Mourinho before kickoff. On the pitch, however, it was a tense tactical affair between two sides looking to rebound from opening defeats in Europe.<\/p>\n
The only goal arrived in the 18th minute, when a low cross from Chelsea\u2019s Alejandro Garnacho, following a build-up started by Pedro Neto, deflected off R\u00edos and into his own net.<\/p>\n
Benfica pressed for an equalizer, with attempts from Fredrik Aursnes and Georgiy Sudakov among those that tested Chelsea, but none broke the deadlock.<\/p>\n
Despite the defeat, Mourinho praised his players\u2019 resilience.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe came to Stamford Bridge, against a strong Chelsea, and showed personality,\u201d he said post-match. \u201cIt\u2019s painful to lose in this way, but I saw a team fighting until the last second. This is the mentality we must keep.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chelsea:<\/span>\u00a0<\/strong>(4-2-3-1) Sanchez; Gusto, Chalobah, Badiashile, Cucurella; Buonanotte (Estevao 53), Caicedo; Pedro Neto, Fernandez, Garnacho (Gittens 62); George (Joao Pedro 62)<\/p>\n Benfica<\/strong>:<\/span> (4-2-3-1) Trubin; Dahl , Otamendi, Antonio Silva (Araujo 72), Dedic; Rios (Barreiro 76), Barrenechea; Lukebakio (Schjelderup 76), Aursnes, Sudakov (Ivanovic 76); Pavlidis<\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jos\u00e9 Mourinho\u2019s highly-anticipated return to Stamford Bridge as Benfica manager ended in frustration on Tuesday night, as the Lisbon side fell 1-0 to Chelsea in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11367,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11365","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","wpcat-1-id"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.soccernoticias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/SLBCHEL-scaled-e1759298558506.jpg?fit=2560%2C1472&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pdnh7s-2Xj","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11314,"url":"https:\/\/www.soccernoticias.com\/blog\/jose-mourinho-named-new-benfica-manager\/","url_meta":{"origin":11365,"position":0},"title":"Jos\u00e9 Mourinho Named New Benfica Manager; First Match at AVS","author":"Administrator","date":"September 19, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Benfica has officially appointed Jos\u00e9 Mourinho as the club\u2019s new manager, bringing one of the most successful coaches in football history back to the Portuguese top flight. 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