Chelsea made it an unhappy Stamford Bridge return for Jose Mourinho as the Blues picked up their first win of the 2025-26 Champions League campaign on Tuesday with a 1-0 win. Neto stole the show for Enzo Maresca’s side and picked out Alejandro Garnacho superbly to force an own goal in the first half that proved enough to secure all three points and make it a bad night for The Special One.
Benfica made the stronger start to the game and hit the post in the early exchanges. Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez was the busier of the two stoppers and was forced into action on several occasions to keep Benfica out and preserve his clean sheet.
Yet Chelsea grew into the game and went close on 17 minutes when the lively Neto fired an excellent effort across goal and narrowly wide. Minutes later, he picked out Garnacho with a sumptuous pass and saw the summer signing’s volley deflect off Benfica defender Richard Rios and into the visitors’ net.
Chelsea’s narrow lead looked precarious, and Benfica remained a threat, which saw Maresca send on Estevao Willian, Joao Pedro and Jamie Gittens early in the second half in search of the security of a second goal. Estevao came the closest with a header that was tipped over by goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubiny, while Pedro’s night ended in disaster as he was sent off in stoppage time after picking up his second yellow card of the game as Chelsea ground out a narrow 1-0 win
GOAL rates Chelsea’s players from Stamford Bridge…