Tuesday 26th September
Under normal circumstances, I would have been in Lisbon at this point. The match was beginning in an hour and a half, and it was likely to be a difficult game against a Benfica side who had finished third in the Portuguese League and reached the quarter finals of the Champions League the previous season.
The reason why I was still in London, however, was sitting on the sofa watching the episode of The Simpsons where Principal Skinner tries to serve Krusty Burger to Superintendent Chalmers and pass them off as “steamed hams”. Still, from what she’d told me, she’d had no say in being relocated to London, and I felt that taking her to Portugal or Germany for a group game was far too much of a stretch. Glasgow, however, would be much easier, thanks to the Caledonian Sleeper.
At any rate, the two most recent games had given cause for hope. They might only have been Celtic and Wigan, but you could only beat what was put in front of you. The bad news for tonight, however, was that Makelele was missing through illness. As I tried to guess who Mourinho would pick in his place, I looked through the fridge, wondering what to serve and how to time it so it would be ready at half time.
Half past seven arrived and the two of us watched as the ITV pundits discussed the match, and the midfield of Essien-Lampard-Ballack in front of John Obi Mikel.
“It’s going to be a tough one,” I said, “But if we can get an early goal, we can control the match from there on, just like in the last two.”
Unfortunately, it became clear that it wouldn’t be that simple. Benfica matched Chelsea from the outset, and without Makelele to break up the opposition attacks, the visitors were under more pressure than usual. However, Chelsea still looked to attack, and Lampard and Drogba had shots saved by Quim in the Benfica goal.
Then, in the 27th minute, a Benfica attack saw Petit play a long ball to Nuno Gomes, who hit a shot past Cech to give Benfica the lead.
Both sides came close, and the game entered a scrappy phase. Drogba was booked for dissent in the 33rd minute, with Petit entering the book for a foul on Michael Essien in the 40th minute.
Things didn’t get better in the second half, either. The two of us had barely finished the ravioli I’d boiled during the half time break when another Benfica attack saw Rui Costa play in Katsouranis, who had no problem lofting the ball over Cech to double Benfica’s lead.
Benfica then looked to close the game out, and Chelsea’s attacks frequently came up against a solid back four, with Fontana seeing a shot saved by Quim in the 64th minute and a Drogba strike being palmed away behind the post. However, it seemed like Benfica would comfortably see the match out, until Chelsea were thrown a lifeline with fifteen minutes left.
A good pass from Ballack saw Drogba break free of the Benfica defence, and, as he was about to get into the area, the Ivorian was brought down by Benfica defender Léo. It was a clear denial of a goalscoring opportunity, and the red card came out in short order. Benfica were now down to ten men with fifteen minutes remaining.
Frank Lampard stepped up to take the free kick, but the shot struck the defensive wall and was deflected behind for a corner, which came to nothing.
Chelsea continued to ask questions of the ten men of Benfica, and with just under ten minutes remaining, Fontana broke into the box only to see Quim tip his shot around the post. With four minutes left, Ballack got into the area before going down under a challenge from Anderson. The German appealed for a penalty, but the referee waved play on. That was how the game closed out, with Benfica picking up a priceless win.
SL Benfica 2-0 Chelsea (Nuno Gomes 27, Katsouranis 50, Léo s/o 75)
“I wouldn’t read too much into that,” I said, as the pundits discussed what the result meant. “If we pick up a good result or two against Bayern and beat them here, we’ll still go through.”
“Confirmation, then, of what the group table looks like,” Steve Rider said, “And in the next round of fixtures, Chelsea travel to the Allianz Arena to face Bayern Munich, while Celtic host Benfica.”
UEFA Champions League Group F: Matchday 2
1 Bayern +3 6pts
2 Benfica 0 3pts
3 Chelsea +2 3pts
4 Celtic -5 0pts
It wasn’t a good round of fixtures for British sides at all. Celtic lost 1-0 at home to Bayern Munich in the other group match, whilst Arsenal were held to a 0-0 draw at home to FC Porto. Manchester United and Liverpool both drew 1-1 the following day, against Inter Milan and Galatasaray respectively.
I put Dinky to bed, then headed for the study. I would normally, at this point, have played Links 2003 or Rome Total War for a bit, but tonight I had something to do. According to the paperwork that the embassy had given me back in June, Dinky’s birthday was early in October, just after the game at Old Trafford. As such, I felt that it was importance to coordinate any gift-giving so as to avoid the possibility of her being given the same gift by two different parties.
Having penned a letter which would hopefully avoid twisting the proverbial knife, I picked out an envelope, addressing it to “Ms D. Hooves, The Old Post Office, Whitetail Street, Ponyville, Equestria, PV1 2CG”, before sticking a first class stamp on it and putting it in a drawer to send the following day.