benfica 2-1

Independent:

Chelsea 2 Benfica 1 (Chelsea win 3-1 on aggregate)
Sam Wallace

Ten minutes after the final whistle Roman Abramovich embarked on his customary walk across the Stamford Bridge pitch from his executive suite in the West Stand to the tunnel that takes him to the home dressing room. With a spring in his step and his entourage in tow he was off to see the Chelsea players who are just 180 minutes from a Champions League final.
So near and yet, for now, Chelsea feel so very far from the possibility of a second final of the Abramovich years. Standing in the way in the semi-finals is a familiar enemy and one that seems to discover new and devastating ways to break the hearts of their opponents with every game that they win. This is Barcelona in 2012. This is the biggest test any team of this generation will face.
What shape are Chelsea in for the most exacting examination of their powers? It would be fair to say that last night typified their season. It was not all bad, in fact they defended well at times, and Petr Cech was superb. But there were times when the home support had to watch through their fingers as, against Benfica's 10 men, Chelsea almost conspired to throw the whole damn thing away.
In the end, Raul Meireles' late winning goal lifted the tension and allowed Stamford Bridge to forget how ropey their team had been at times last night. They are in the sixth Champions League semi-final of the last nine years, a remarkable record, especially when you consider that this was the season no-one expected them to do anything in the competition. Yet, there is no point denying there is a sense of foreboding about what lies ahead.
If Chelsea approach their semi-final with the defending champions in the same careless fashion as they stumbled through some of last night's tie, they could find themselves embarrassed. But there is no guaranteeing what kind of performance you will get from this team. With the pressure off, and no expectations Chelsea could be a different side altogether. Warning: it requires a leap of faith to believe that.
This semi-final against Barcelona, starting with the home leg in 13 days' time, will be billed as the re-match for that semi-final elimination in 2009 when, justifiably, Chelsea felt harshly treated by the referee Tom Henning Ovrebo. Since then, Barcelona have won the Champions League twice and Chelsea have changed their manager three times. One club is playing the best football some say has ever been played. The other does not have a permanent manager.
If they are to reach the final in Munich on 19 May, and potentially another meeting with Jose Mourinho, then Chelsea must find a way of stopping Lionel Messi. It was not that long ago that they could not stop Gareth McAuley.
For the time being, however, it is only be fair to note that Roberto Di Matteo has not done a bad job of turning around a very unpromising situation. From 3-1 down to Napoli in the first leg of the previous round, when he took over from Andre Villas-Boas, his team is in the last four of the biggest club competition in Europe in a dismal Champions League for the rest of the Premier League's elite.
This will be a chaotic end to the season now with at least 11 games in 40 days including last night and possibly one more within that timeframe if Chelsea beat Tottenham in the FA Cup semi-finals a week on Sunday. The Benfica coach, Jorge Jesus, said yesterday that his team had made Chelsea look "ordinary" and it was difficult to argue with that assessment.
The dismissal of Maxi Pereira before half-time had given Chelsea the kind of advantage that, at this level, is so often decisive. They were already leading through Frank Lampard's penalty and yet they could not close out the game despite an array of chances at the start of the second half. Slowly Benfica's confidence crept back.
In the first half, the Slovenian referee Damir Skomina, the man who so enraged Arsène Wenger in Arsenal's second-leg win over Milan, dished out eight yellow cards, six of them to Benfica and two for Pereira. As Pereira headed off, he appeared to take Benfica's hope with him.
Until Benfica conceded that crucial penalty to Chelsea in the 21st minute they had looked much more dangerous than the predictable, risk-adverse side that Di Matteo's team had beaten last week in Lisbon.
Then Ashley Cole was released into the Benfica penalty area, running into the left channel and controlling the ball with a nifty first touch that took it past Javi Garcia. The Spanish midfielder, co-opted to play centre-back because of Benfica's defensive injury crisis, could not stop himself colliding with the left-back. Lampard tucked away the penalty.
Benfica had chances. Oscar Cardozo had a shot kicked off the line by John Terry who later went off with what the club fear are two fractured ribs sustained in the first leg last week. In his absence, Chelsea looked much more vulnerable. Before then Pereira's red card came for his second bookable offence – a silly tackle on John Obi Mikel – that swung the tie in Chelsea's favour.
As the visitors were stretched after the break, so the opportunities came for Chelsea to put their opponents away. Salomon Kalou hit the post in the 49th minute and Ramires could not force the ball over the line. Juan Mata had a couple of shots saved. Fernando Torres turned Emerson on the edge of the area but his strike was deflected wide.
With the lively substitute Yannick Djalo on the pitch, there was greater purpose about Benfica. He headed wide before the Portuguese side equalised. It came from a corner from the excellent Pablo Aimar on 84 minutes. In the centre David Luiz lost Garcia, who was given a free jump at Aimar's corner, scored and the tie was back in the balance.
Breaking free from a Benfica attack, Meireles carried the ball a long way and just when it seemed like he would play in Ramires, he struck a fierce shot past goalkeeper Artur. Only then did the home support feel confident enough to turn their minds to Barcelona — and that brings a whole new set of problems.

Man of the match Mata.
Match rating 6/10.
Referee D Skomina (Sloven).
Attendance 37,264.

The semi-finals

Bayern Munich v Real Madrid Tuesday 17 April (Allianz Arena); Wednesday 25 April(Bernabeu)
Chelsea v Barcelona Wednesday 18 April(Stamford Bridge); Tuesday 24 April (Nou Camp)


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Guardian:

Chelsea's Frank Lampard sinks Benfica and sets up Barcelona semi-final
Daniel Taylor at Stamford Bridge

Stamford Bridge, once again, feels like a happy place to be. It has been a difficult, frequently ignominious season and there was a point last night, almost inexplicably, when it seemed there could be one more excruciating low, but the team deserve their place in the semi-finals despite the late scare when everything threatened to go horribly wrong.Chelsea had led through Frank Lampard's 21st-minute penalty and really ought to have made more of their chances after Maxi Pereira had been sent off five minutes before the interval. Javi García's late, jolting equaliser, with a free header direct from a corner, would have been a terrible goal to concede at any time and, after 85 minutes, it sparked something that strayed dangerously close to panic.Benfica had played far more impressively than at the Estádio da Luz last week and there were moments in a nerve-shredding finale when they threatened a second goal to eliminate their hosts. John Terry had left the pitch with suspected cracked ribs – he will undergo a scan in the morning – and the 10 men of Benfica sensed something remarkable when they won a free-kick, two minutes into stoppage time, and sent just about every available player into the penalty area.As it turned out it was a poorly taken free-kick, headed out by Mikel John Obi. Raul Meireles took the ball off Yannick Djaló and drove forward into a vast expanse of space where the Benfica defence had previously been located. It was finished with a torpedo of a shot, still rising as it hit the net. The relief was immense.Whether this team are capable of getting past Barcelona over two legs is another matter. They will certainly have to play much better, tighter at the back and less generous with their finishing. More than anything they will need to show a greater sense of control and, even then, it is difficult to get away from the fact that their opposition appear to belong to a different universe sometimes.Roberto Di Matteo's team struggled at times to get any momentum, particularly early on when they were careless enough for Terry to remonstrate angrily with his team-mates. Equally, it should not be overlooked that Benfica came into the match missing four centre-halves because of injury, including the two Brazilians, Luisão and Jardel, who had played in the first leg. García, a midfielder by trade, and Emerson, a left-back, filled the roles and Axel Witsel, another midfielder, was moved to right-back after the sending-off. With such an experimental back-four, it is not surprising they were vulnerable.The penalty, for example, originated from an error of positioning from García after Ashley Cole had surged forward from left-back. The Benfica player was caught the wrong side of his man and it was a clear barge as he tried to prevent his opponent from getting into a shooting position. Lampard's penalty was struck powerfully to the right of Artur, though he was a little fortunate that it went under the goalkeeper's right glove.Benfica had been on top at the time, playing with a mixture of adventure and belief, and they responded well to the opening goal. Ultimately, however, the red card left them with too great a disadvantage, and they made little attempt to conceal their disgust at Damir Skomina's refereeing.Skomina's last visit to London was the Arsenal-Milan tie that resulted in Arsène Wenger receiving a three-match ban for berating the Slovenian at the final whistle and then criticising him after the match. This time it was Jorge Jesus, the Benfica coach, who could barely contain his ire. Skomina showed five yellow cards plus two for the sending off in the opening 45 minutes, which was totally out of keeping with the game. Five of the yellows had gone to Benfica players. All the same, their complaints were undermined because Pereira, as one of them, was reckless to raise his studs when challenging Mikel.Benfica could have waved a white flag at this point. Instead they began the second half as they had the first, pressing forward, with Oscar Cardozo always a difficult opponent, just as he had been in Lisbon. Cardozo could reflect on two Petr Cech saves and a goalline clearance from Terry before he was withdrawn. Yet the second half was mostly a story of squandered Chelsea chances – more, in truth, than Di Matteo will want to remember. Ramires somehow missed from a yard when it seemed easier to score. Fernando Torres had a busy match but his finishing was always skew-whiff. Juan Mata was the same.Perhaps a bit of complacency crept in, too, as Benfica lost their momentum for a 20-minute spell and the crowd serenaded Di Matteo. It certainly seemed that way with the defending when García headed in Pablo Aimar's corner.It was a soft goal, and there is no way Chelsea will get away with that kind of generosity against Barcelona.

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Telegraph:

Chelsea stand firm against Benfica to set up Barcelona Champions League revenge mission

By Jason Burt, Senior Football Writer at Stamford Bridge

And now for Barcelona. But only just. The aggregate result appeared relatively comfortable but this was another instalment in the nerve-jangling, controversy-ridden, last-gasp Champions League football that Chelsea appear to have patented over the years.
They won both legs of this quarter-final tie but that only tells half a story. Having deservedly taken the first leg 1-0 away to Benfica last week, they appeared overcome with nerves and expectation at times on Wednesday night.
Chelsea were often outplayed by Benfica’s 10 men, and a makeshift defence, who were conducted brilliantly by the little magician Pablo Aimar, by far the best player on show.
Indeed, at 1-1, had the substitute Nelson Oliveira rolled the ball to Aimar inside the Chelsea penalty area, rather than ambitiously going for goal, then this could have been a very, very different report. It could have been a tale of how Chelsea threw it away.
How they failed to reach their sixth semi-final in this competition in nine years; how they spurned the opportunity to take on Barcelona, their old nemesis, once again and have a shot at what Frank Lampard declared was “unfinished business”.
Revenge will be in the air when Chelsea do meet Barca and that is a prime motivator.
Will it be enough? Probably not, but Chelsea’s muscularity can unsettle them. Also, there is another growing sense around this Chelsea campaign: with Roberto Di Matteo, the so-called interim head coach, there is a feeling that he is a lucky manager.
There was luck last night, for certain, with the award of a soft-looking penalty and then Maxi Pereira’s dismissal, and there is a touch of the Guus Hiddink regime to what is happening under Di Matteo.
The Italian has steadied the club, improved the atmosphere and touched wood on occasions with results. Last night his name rang around Stamford Bridge.
Hiddink’s Chelsea went out to Barcelona three years ago on that insanely crazy night of Andres Iniesta’s last-gasp goal and the implosion of referee Tom Henning Ovrebo and the wounds are still to heal.
Chelsea feel they have suffered at the hands of perceived Uefa injustices - going back to the days of Jose Mourinho - against Barca and will fear them again.
On Wednesday night it was the Benfica fans who felt aggrieved at the performance of referee Damir Skomina and chanted the name of the Uefa president Michel Platini.
The inference was clear: they felt Uefa wanted the big dogs in the last four and Chelsea are in rarefied company with not just Barcelona but Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.
So if they progress to the final then it is either Mourinho lying in wait or an encounter with the Germans at their own stadium. Gulp.
In truth Chelsea will have to play far, far better than they did last night to have any hope of going further. But they are in a place now that they would never have believed possible not so long ago, when they were getting rolled over in Naples and seemed on their way out, and deserve great credit.
The only blight for them last night, beyond a ropey performance, was injury to John Terry. It was no coincidence that they conceded when he departed.
The Benfica coach, Jorge Jesus, declared that his team made Chelsea appear “ordinary” and although that was a harsh assessment, there was truth in it.
This was an occasion when the hype around Fernando Torres’s return to form was exposed as he struggled; when Juan Mata looked what he is (tired) and when Lampard scored from the penalty spot but provided further evidence that his powers are on the wane as the game often passed him by (as Aimar constantly did).
Chelsea need to brush this aside. They need to rally and go again and forget about fatigue.
It is a balancing act with games coming thick and fast and the priority remaining to finish in the top four of the Premier League, but they are in two semi-finals, with the FA Cup also, and silverware is close if they can find the right game-plan.
It could be the most astonishing of seasons.
They got the game-plan wrong last night. They were propelled back, taken aback, by Benfica’s attacking impetus and rarely got to grips with it.
But just as they struggled, they cut a break with Ashley Cole running into the Benfica area to meet Terry’s lobbed pass.
Javi Garcia, the midfielder standing in as a central defender, clumsily collided with him and the penalty was awarded. Benfica protested with Pereira, fatefully, among those cautioned, but Lampard coolly drove the spot-kick low to the right of goalkeeper Artur.
It should have settled Chelsea but did not. Instead Benfica, with some wonderfully creative football, pushed on and Oscar Cardozo beat Petr Cech with a snapshot only for Terry to hack if off the goal line.
Aimar was conducting proceedings and with Lampard wandering, Chelsea were indebted to John Obi Mikel (not a line often written) before they cut another break.
This time Pereira overran the ball, lunged to dispossess Mikel and a second yellow, then a red card, was shown. Only 40 minutes had been played and Jesus knew he needed a miracle.
But his team kept playing. Cardozo drew a fine save from Cech, Joan Capdevila blazed over when well placed, as did substitute Yannick Djalo.
Of course, Chelsea also had chances and plenty of them - with Ramires somehow failing to turn Salomon Kalou’s cross-shot into the net, from almost on the goal line, Kalou then fluffing a one-on-one with the goalkeeper and Torres’s shot deflected narrowly wide.
Kalou then drove wide and it appeared a second goal would come.
When it did, however, it was from Benfica with Javi Garcia earning redemption by heading home from a corner.
Cue panic. Benfica poured forward and appeared the more likely scorers but then substitute Raul Meireles stole possession inside his own half and ran on to crash the ball beyond Artur. Against Benfica, that was a delicious moment for the former Porto midfielder but not as delicious as reaching the Champions League semi-final.

Match details:

Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Cech; Ivanovic, Terry (Cahill 59), Luiz, Cole; Lampard, Mikel; Ramires, Mata (Meireles 79), Kalou; Torres (Drogba 88). Subs: Turnbull (g), Essien, Drogba, Meireles, Ferreira, Sturridge, Cahill.Booked: Ivanovic, Ramires, Mikel.
Benfica (4-2-3-1): Artur; Maxi, Javi Garcia, Emerson, Capdevila; Matic, Witsel; Gaitan (Djalo 61), Aimar, Cesar (Rodrigo 72); Cardozo (Oliveira 57).Subs: Eduardo (g), Nolito, Saviola, Almeida.Booked: Pereira, Bruno Cesar, Aimar, Cardozo. Sent off: Pereira.Referee: D Skomina (Slovenia).

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Mail:

Chelsea 2 Benfica 1 (3-1 agg):
Raul rocket does the job as Blues hold their nerve to set up Barca semi
By MATT LAWTON

In the end it was the Champions League encounter that had everything. A penalty, a red card, a sheer sense of panic when a Benfica side down to 10 men somehow scored with five minutes remaining; there was even a furious Jesus and a rather more content Roman.
Jorge Jesus was enraged by what he felt was the decisive moment in this game. Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is a step nearer his holy grail.
The Jesus moment came when Yannick Djalo ducked out of a 50-50 ball with Raul Meireles and so enabled the Portuguese midfielder to score the second-half, stoppage-time goal that spared Chelsea nerves in a competition that has proved so painful for them in the past.
The pressure was enormous, Benfica pressing in a manner that would have alarmed Roberto Di Matteo as much as it did Chelsea’s increasingly anxious supporters. This is certainly no way to be playing Barcelona.
With John Terry already off, a rib injury forcing him to make way for Gary Cahill, Chelsea had lost their security blanket. Having allowed Javi Garcia to score with a soft, near-post header it seemed the visitors might just land a second, knock-out blow.
There was a chance it might come when John Obi Mikel needlessly conceded a free kick.
But Mikel quickly made amends when he met Pablo Aimar’s delivery with a thumping header.
Meireles did the rest, beating Djalo to the bouncing ball with a high, out-stretched boot before running 40 yards and leaving Artur helpless with a terrific drive.
As Stamford Bridge erupted with a mixture of joy and relief, Jesus erupted with anger, marching out to see Djalo at the sound of the final whistle and giving the Portuguese forward the most public of dressing downs.
In truth, there were others he could have blamed. Benfica did trouble Chelsea enough last night to worry Di Matteo when Messi and Co come next. But their own indiscipline did for Benfica, with Garcia’s foul on Ashley Cole for the penalty as reckless as the studs-up challenge on John Mikel Obi that earned Maxi Pereira — Benfica’s captain — a second yellow card shortly before the break.
Even then, Chelsea made this tough for themselves, sitting far too deep and allowing a 10-man team with an already makeshift defence — Garcia normally plays in midfield — to dominate.
That will leave Di Matteo with much to ponder before Chelsea contest their sixth Champions League semi-final in nine years. If they are as cautious as this and as profligate in front of goal when they do get opportunities, Barcelona will punish them.
Di Matteo cannot hide from that, just as he can no longer insist it would be disrespectful to both AC Milan and Benfica to look beyond this Champions League quarter-final. Chelsea are now playing Barcelona, just as the form guide suggested they would.
Before we look ahead, the mere fact that they have secured another date with the Catalans should be acknowledged.
Yes, this was uncomfortable. But after losing so heavily in Naples under the guidance of Andre Villas-Boas, it still amounts to some achievement. The man who took his place in the dug-out for only his third European game as a manager once again deserves much credit.
If that second leg against Napoli was something of a blur, a product of naked defiance, gritty determination and some great attacking football, the back-to-back defeats of Benfica have been more intelligent and methodical.
In Lisbon, the interim manager got his team selection and his tactics spot on and here at Stamford Bridge he made another major call that was decisive.
Frank Lampard was left on the bench at the Estadio Da Luz but he was back in the starting line-up here and what a good decision it proved. There is, after all, no better Chelsea player when it comes to taking penalties, particularly when such an opportunity presents itself with the stakes as high as this.
With Garcia’s foul on Cole came the chance not only to double Chelsea’s advantage but ease that pressure Di Matteo’s side had been under for what was a chastening first 21 minutes.
Chelsea looked nervous, unsettled, lacking confidence.
But the man who stepped up so memorably in 2008 to score that penalty against Liverpool in the semi-final in front of the same Matthew Harding Stand converted when it mattered most again.
It crowned a fine display for the 33-year-old. One that saw him driving forward from midfield but also tracking back to assist his defensive colleagues. He also made some important tackles last night.
Jesus would have been unhappy with the way Chelsea opened the scoring, given it was Oscar Cardozo’s rash challenge on Luiz that earned Chelsea the free-kick from which they struck.
Once he had recovered, Luiz played the ball across to Terry, who exchanged passes with Salomon Kalou before dropping a delightful first-time chip in front of the rapidly advancing Cole.
A super penalty from Lampard followed, the England midfielder scoring despite the fact that Artur guessed the right way.
Chelsea continued to live dangerously, Branislav Ivanovic clearing a Cardozo strike off the line when Petr Cech was beaten. When Pereira then went in studs up on Mikel in the 41st minute and earned himself a second yellow card, Chelsea should have retaken control.
They certainly had chances to increase their lead, with Kalou sending a shot against a post and both Juan Mata and Kalou forcing excellent saves from Artur.
At the opposite end, Cech had to produce a fine save to deny Cardozo. Just as he did to divert a header from Djalo wide.
It was from the resulting corner, delivered by Aimar, that Benfica scored, Garcia getting ahead of Luiz and Fernando Torres at the near post. Fortunately for Chelsea, though, Djalo missed his header and Meireles did the rest.

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Mirror:

Chelsea 2-1 Benfica: Meireles stunner seals showdown with Barca
By Martin Lipton

Good enough, just, to beat Benfica.
But if Chelsea think it will be good enough to beat the greatest side on the planet over two legs, they will be in for one hell of a shock.
Last night, against a team reduced to ten men for more than half the game and who were convinced they were being robbed blind by the referee, it took until the last few seconds of injury time, and Raul Meireles' thumping strike from 20 yards, for Stamford Bridge to relax.
In the end, the aggregate score and the match result will suggest this was as easy as it should have been.
Yet it wasn't. Indeed, it wasn't anything like that.
Even after being gifted a soft early penalty, even though Maxi Pereira compounded his indiscipline over that spot kick with a reckless, stupid and duly punished half-way line lunge.
Maybe Roberto Di Matteo wanted his side to play as if they were away from home, rather than on their own soil, as a taster for what will come in two weeks' time.
That makes some sense. In their wildest dreams, Chelsea know they will not be able to monopolise possession, territory, control, against the finest side the modern game has seen.
But where Di Matteo had hoped for a performance of conviction and quality, to confirm the evidence of the first leg, Chelsea instead stood on the verge of a collective nervous breakdown, appallingly sloppy defending punished by makeshift centre-back Javi Garcia's inconceivably easy header.
That knowledge ensured the Blues fans who made their way out onto the Fulham Road, having briefly contemplated the inconceivable, were a mix of relief, defiance and concern - and not just after witnessing how their side's composure disappeared the moment John Terry's back gave way and forced a precautionary early exit.
If Benfica, a side without a striker worthy of the description despite the promptings, vision and intelligence of Pablo Aimar, could cause so much anxiety, you wonder what the likes of Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta and Co might do to them.
All that is for another day, to be discussed, predicted, prognosticated over the coming fortnight.
This was all about coming through, making sure the hard work of Lisbon was not wasted, about making a sixth semi-final in nine seasons, another clash with the Catalan pass-masters.
That Chelsea European history, of course, is a heartbreaking tale of near-misses, angst, pain and fury.
Last night those were the emotions of Benfica and coach Jorge Jesus, who left Stamford Bridge raging at referee Damir Skormina, and not Chelsea.
The Slovenian, on the receiving end of Arsene Wenger's four-letter fury last month, produced eight yellow cards - six for Benfica and two, plus the inevitable red, for Pereira - in that opening half, to leave the Portuguese side spewing.
His key decision, though, came after 20 minutes which had been dominated by the elusive and perceptive Aimar.
Ashley Cole charged down the left and went shoulder to shoulder with makeshift centre-half Garcia before hitting the floor, his appeal hardly vehement.
Skormina decided otherwise, booked the deemed miscreant and both Pereira and Bruno Cesar for their protests, with Frank Lampard - left out last week but here restored in place of Meireles - drilling home his 22nd goal in 85 Champions League games.
While Terry made a vital goalline block to foil Oscar Card Theo Walcott: Our fight for third with Spurs is as exciting as title race ozo after poor defending from a Cesar free-kick, Pereira's wild, studs-first lunge at Mikel brought the inevitable punishment.
Although Cech acrobatically repelled Cardozo again at the start of the second period, the spaces began to open up.
Salomon Kalou should have scored three times, first hitting the post - Ramires alone will know how he failed to convert the rebound - then the keeper from a Juan Mata pass and then firing wide after great work by Cole.
Benfica remained dangerous yet it was only after Terry was replaced by Gary Cahill that the Portuguese side began to get joy.
Cech denied substitute Yannick Djalo but was horribly exposed - and will reflect on his own part - when Garcia evaded the sloppy David Luiz' supposed challenge to get on the end of Aimar's corner under the bar.
Signs of panic, quelled only as Meireles took advantage of Benfica's committed bodies to smash home in added time.
Relief all round. Victory too. Reality, though, intrudes all too swiftly. It will take a hell of a lot more to beat Barcelona.

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Star:

CHELSEA 2- BENFICA 1: FRANK LAMPARD 'N RAUL MEIRELES SPOT THE WAY
By David Woods

FRANK LAMPARD got Chelsea out of a spot of bother last night as the Blues found a referee on their side for once.
The Blues have had plenty to moan about over the man in the middle in Europe, most notably Anders Frisk and Tom Henning Ovrebo for their efforts in games against Barcelona.
But with Barca waiting in the semi-final, Roberto Di Matteo’s men could have no complaints about Damir Skomina of Slovenia.
He booked five Benfica players before the break – skipper Maxi Pereira twice to earn a red card – and awarded the Blues a penalty.
The spot-kick was converted by Lampard in the 21st minute to put them on the way to that Champions League semi-final showdown with Barca.
Yet Chelsea had to survive a nervy lasted five minutes after Javi Garcia headed in Pablo Aimar’s corner.
But Raul Meireles settled it in stoppage-time when Aimar’s free-kick was cleared and he ran clear to crash home the Blues’ second for a 3-1 aggregate win.
You can imagine what Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger must have been feeling if he was watching the game and the referee.
Skomina’s display would surely have had the Frenchman using the same four-letter words he aimed at the official after Arsenal’s exit to Milan in the last 16.
Wenger felt the 35-year-old estate agent gave the Italians too many free-kicks and his rant earned him a three-match ban and £33,000 fine.
Benfica boss Jorge Jesus would almost certainly have been damning him at the break.
The changes in the Chelsea starting line-up last night were the returns of Lampard and Branislav Ivanovic for Meireles and Paulo Ferreira.
They were the goal heroes in the 4-1 win over Napoli in the previous round, with Lampard scoring the penalty to take the tie into extra-time and Ivanovic banging in the winner.
Benfica were bright from the start and John Terry had to be alert and brave to block Axel Witsel and then Aimar.
At the other end Joan Capdevila produced an even better block as he flung himself in the way of a dangerous David Luiz drive.
Luiz was next up, deflecting a Bruno Cesar shot to safety.
Juan Mata smashed home with his left foot but was offside and soon after Terry was furious at his team-mates for giving Aimar the space to shoot.
Terry had to take out Aimar with a bodycheck, with the Argentina playmaker rightfully upset at no booking for his rival.
Striker Oscar Cardozo was first to be booked, for a foul on Luiz, but then worse was to come for Benfica when Garcia barged over Ashley Cole in the box.
There were huge protests, and ref Skomina gave Pereira the first of his yellow cards for complaining.
Keeper Artur did his best to put off Lampard, standing halfway towards the spot and it almost did the trick.
Lampard’s kick, to Artur’s right, was not his best, but the Brazilian could not keep it out, despite guessing correctly.
Fernando Torres almost took advantage of poor defending again as he was allowed to run on to a punt downfield from Petr Cech. But his pull-back just failed to pick out Salomon Kalou.
Luiz was dispossessed by Aimar, who put in Nicolas Gaitan, but Lampard came to the rescue, tackling cleanly in the box.
Terry kept out Cardozo’s left-foot shot on the line after a superb free-kick routine orchestrated by Aimar.
Ivanovic was carded for tripping Nicolas Gaitan from behind, then Pererira went into the book again in the 40th minute for catching John Obi Mikel on the shins. It was his second yellow, so off he went.
Benfica boss Jesus had seen his side give Chelsea a footballing lesson, yet they went in 1-0 down and one man down, having had eight attempts on goal compared to the home side’s two.
Benfica restarted positively, but Cech pulling off a fine stop to keep out Cardozo’s curler.
But then Kalou, the goal hero in Portugal, came even closer, showing great skill and composure in the box before rolling a pass across goal which Ramires seemed certain to convert.
Somehow, though, he got the ball under his foot and sent it away from goal with a candidate for miss of the season.
Torres did brilliantly in the box to turn and shoot, but Emerson just got a touch to deflect his goal-bound effort for a corner. The revitalised Spanish hitman then just failed to hook in after Artur kept out Mata’s firm strike in an end-to-end battle.
Garcia’s 85th-minute header gave Chelsea some anxious moments before Meireles eased those worries.

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Express:

CHELSEA 2 - BENFICA 1: CHELSEA CLAIM DREAM DATE
By Matt Law

CHELSEA will take on Barcelona more in hope that expectation, but the fact they can now dare to dream demonstrates the turnaround in fortunes Roberto Di Matteo has inspired.
When the Blues lost the first leg of their last-16 clash against Napoli, there seemed no hope. No hope of a happy ending to the season. No hope of a happy ending to the Chelsea careers of Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba and Ashley Cole. And no hope Fernando Torres would end up as anything but a £50 million flop.
But since Di Matteo accepted the role of caretaker boss and started piecing together what had become a fractured dressing room, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
Di Matteo is clearly proud to be in charge of the club he cherishes and the players are once again proud to pull on the shirt. It is that pride which Chelsea will largely rely on in the semi-final against the best club side in the world, Barcelona, especially if last night’s performance against 10-man Benfica is anything to go by.
Chelsea were nervy even after they had been given a penalty – which Lampard converted midway through the first half – and had a man advantage, when Maxi Pereira was sent off for a second bookable offence just before half-time. Not until substitute Raul Meireles broke free and scored in the dying seconds of stoppage-time could they relax. But it was a case of job done and the Blues are now showing admirable ‘stickability’.
The bigger picture remains complicated, with important decisions still to be made over a permanent manager and an overhaul of the squad.
But for now and the rest of the season, Di Matteo and his men seem determined to give the fans something good to remember the season by. What could be better than a shock semi-final win over the mighty Barcelona?
However unlikely it may seem, the end could yet be glorious for Lampard and Co. And there would be no better arena for Torres to show he has still got it than the Nou Camp.
Referee Damir Skomina sent Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger potty in the last round, and the Frenchman was handed a three- game ban for confronting him after the Gunners had been eliminated by AC Milan.
Carefully coiffured Benfica coach Jorge Jesus was last night similarly angry with the Slovenian, who seemed hell- bent on proving he does not hold a grudge against English teams.
Jesus was left to look to the heavens in the 21st minute, when Skomina ruined Benfica’s promising start by awarding a dodgy-looking penalty.Cole burst into the box and appeared to go shoulder to shoulder with Javi Garcia. But the England left-back went over and Skomina pointed straight to the spot.
Pereira would later regret the booking he picked up for his protests and Lampard, as he has done so often his Blues career, stepped up to send the resulting penalty into the back of the net on his 550th appearance for the club. In contrast to the visiting boss, Di Matteo did his best not to let his emotions get the better of him, but allowed himself a clenched fist in celebration.
Chelsea were given a warning the tie was not all over on the half-hour mark, though. Oscar Cardozo was left unmarked in the penalty area and his volley needed to be blocked on the line by John Terry and hacked clear by Branislav Ivanovic.
Pablo Aimar then tested goalkeeper Petr Cech from long range. But Jesus was sent into another state of rage, to the extent his chewing gum flew out of his mouth, as he ranted at Skomina for giving Pereira his marching orders. Having been booked for dissent over the penalty, Pereira picked up his second yellow card for a late challenge on John Obi Mikel.
At that point it seemed the tie was over. Juan Mata went close to doubling Chelsea’s lead and Jesus gesticulated his disgust towards Skomina as he gathered his players off the pitch at half-time.
But any theories Benfica would simply roll over were quickly ended after the break as Cardozo forced a brilliant save from Cech.
Ramires was gifted the easiest of chances to put Chelsea’s progress beyond doubt, but somehow contrived to produce the miss of the season.
Salomon Kalou jinked his way into the penalty area and placed a low cross-shot towards goal, only for Ramires to somehow keep the ball out, instead of simply tapping home from a yard. Torres was next to go close, as he turned brilliantly but saw his goalbound effort deflected out for a corner.Gary Cahill was sent on to replace Terry with half an hour remaining and the captain trudged straight down the tunnel in obvious discomfort. From that point chaos ensued.
Chelsea conceded space to their 10-man opponents, who flooded further and further forwards as the minutes ticked by. With time running out, Cech made a wonderful save to keep out a Yannick Djalo header but, from the resulting corner, Garcia gave Benfica unlikely hope.
It was the type of ball into the box Terry would have headed clear, but Chelsea were clearly lacking a leader in the dying moments.Fortunately, as the home crowd were beginning to fear the worst, substitute
Meireles broke free and slammed the ball past Artur to finally seal Chelsea’s semi-final place.
It had hardly been the performance that roared, ‘Bring on Barca’, but Chelsea just want hope. And they have it now.