Jose Mourinho will make his long-awaited return to the touchlines of the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday when he takes charge of Benfica’s second match of the league phase, doing so at a familiar ground — Stamford Bridge.
His legacy looms large over Tuesday’s Champions League clash, and not only because the pre-match press conferences on Monday took place in a room with pictures of the Blues’ title-winning managers and their accolades. Benfica and Chelsea are each chasing a version of their former glory, one that feels in accordance with their present realities, even if it offers a stark reminder of both teams’ imperfections and the high stakes of Tuesday’s game. Each side is coming off a disappointing loss on Matchday 1, one that forces real questions about their ability to make a deep run in this season’s edition of the Champions League. Tuesday’s match offers a first chance to dispel those concerns, though that will be easier said than done.
For both sides, it is unclear if the sum of their parts is impactful enough to make a real dent in the Champions League this season. Benfica are the natural underdogs thanks to the might of the Premier League over nearly any other counterpart but Chelsea are far from impressive this season. Enzo Maresca has yet to find the most effective attacking unit despite having a plethora of players available to him, and potentially making matters more complicated is that Cole Palmer will sit this one out with a groin issue.
Here’s what you need to know before tuning in
How to watch Chelsea vs. Benfica, odds
Date: Tuesday, Sept. 30 | Time: 3 p.m. ET
Location: Stamford Bridge — London, England
Live stream: Paramount+
Odds: Chelsea -160; Draw +300; Benfica +440
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The Special One returns
Chelsea may not be the only English club Mourinho managed, but the manager is most closely associated with the Blues, give his two successful stints there, where he is expected to receive a warm welcome from the fans ahead of Tuesday’s Champions League clash. The feeling, Mourinho said, is mutual.
“I will always be a Blue,” he said in his pre-match press conference. “I am part of their history. They are part of my history. I helped them to become a bigger Chelsea. And they helped me to become a bigger Jose. When I say I am not a Blue, I am only speaking about the job I have to do tomorrow.”
Benfica will arrive at Stamford Bridge with only so much pressure on them – the onus to win, after all, is on Chelsea, but what version of the team and the manager show up on Tuesday is an intriguing question. Mourinho rejoined Benfica almost 25 years to the day that the club handed him his first managerial post and has plenty of history in the Champions League, winning it in 2004 with Porto and in 2010 with Inter, but his stint at the elite levels of the game suggest his best days might be behind him. He last coached a Champions League match in March 2020, his Tottenham Hotspur ousted by Julian Nagelsmann’s RB Leipzig with a 4-0 aggregate loss in the round of 16, though it’s hard not to wonder if there’s an opening for Mourinho to make a statement against a vulnerable Chelsea.
The Blues finished last season on a high by winning the UEFA Conference League and the Club World Cup, but things have tailed off since. They have just three wins in eight games across all competitions this season and have only managed a tally of two non-penalty expected goals in one match, with manager Enzo Maresca almost suggesting that he has more pressing matters than Mourinho’s shadow when he was inevitably asked about it on Monday.
“It’s a privilege to face Jose,” Maresca said. “A legend for this club. I feel already quite lucky to be in some pictures at the training ground with the Club World Cup and Conference League after one season. The target hopefully is one day we can all together enjoy these kinds of moments. … I would like it one day for sure [for fans to sing my name] but it’s not my target. I’m happy if they can sing ‘we’ve got our Chelsea back,’ because that means as a team we are doing something important.”
In order for the fans to get their Chelsea back, Maresca will likely need to finally find the right attacking combination, which has so far been easier said than done. Enzo Fernandez has been Chelsea’s most reliable goalscorer with three goals so far this season and may be counted on for another on Tuesday, while Maresca could also call upon Pedro Neto and Joao Pedro. Those two have played a majority of Chelsea’s matches this season but the results have been mixed, underscoring the Blues’ big issue – they may not have the squad to make a meaningful run in the competition, though a win against Benfica could go a long way.
Matchday 2 TV schedule
All times U.S./Eastern
UEFA Champions League Matchday
12 p.m.
Paramount+, CBS Sports Golazo Network
Atalanta vs. Club Brugge
12:45 p.m.
Paramount+
Kirat Almaty vs. Real Madrid
12:45 p.m.
Paramount+
UEFA Champions League Today
2:00 p.m.
Paramount+, CBS Sports Network
The Golazo Show
3 p.m.
Paramount+
Pafos vs. Bayern Munich
3 p.m.
Paramount+, CBS Sports Network
Inter vs. Slavia Praha
3 p.m.
Paramount+, CBS Sports Golazo Network
Chelsea vs. Benfica
3 p.m.
Paramount+
Bodo/Glimt vs. Tottenham3 p.m.Paramount+Galatasaray vs. Liverpool3 p.m.Paramount+Marseille vs. Ajax3 p.m.Paramount+Atletico Madrid vs. Eintracht Frankfurt3 p.m.Paramount+
UEFA Champions League Today post-match
5 p.m.
Paramount+, CBS Sports Golazo Network