Chelsea vs Benfica head-to-head

Chelsea have won all four of our previous competitive meetings with Benfica, the most recent being the FIFA Club World Cup quarter-final in June.

We first met in the 2012 Champions League quarter-finals on our way to lifting the trophy. We won both legs - 1-0 at Estadio da Luz thanks to a 75th-minute Salomon Kalou strike, and 2-1 at Stamford Bridge with our goals coming from a Frank Lampard penalty and Raul Meireles.

The next meeting was in the Europa League final the following year at the Amsterdam Arena. Fernando Torres opened the scoring on the hour, Oscar Cardozo equalised from the penalty spot eight minutes later, and Branislav Ivanovic scored the winner in the second minute of stoppage time.

With four minutes of the 90 to play – and with Chelsea leading 1-0 – our Club World Cup match against Benfica in Charlotte this summer was suspended for one hour and 57 minutes due to a severe weather warning. The match eventually finished four hours 38 minutes after it kicked off.

It was just the second time the Blues won an extra-time contest by a margin of three goals, also defeating Swindon Town (5-2) after extra time in a first-round replay in the 1914/15 FA Cup.

Head-to-Head (all competitions)

Played 4
Won 4
Drawn 0
Lost 0

Chelsea's biggest home wins in the Champions League

21/10/2014 - Chelsea 6-0 Maribor Group stage
12/09/2017 - Chelsea 6-0 Qarabag Group stage

Previous meetings

27/03/12 Champions League quarter-final first leg A: W 1-0
04/04/12 Champions League quarter-final second leg H: W 2-1
15/05/13 Europa League final N: W 2-1
28/06/25 Club World Cup round of 16 N: W 4-1 aet

Chelsea stats

Chelsea are competing in the Champions League for the 20th season, and the first since reaching the quarter-finals in 2022/23. We have made the knockout stage in each of our past eight appearances.

We our playing our 100th home Champions League match, including two third round qualifying games in 1999 against Skonto Riga and 2003 against MSK Zilina. We have won 61 of the previous 99.

After defeat to Bayern Munich, Chelsea have lost our opening game of a Champions League season in our two most recent campaigns (also in 2022/23 against Dinamo Zagreb). That is as many defeats on Matchweek 1 as in our previous 18 such matches in the competition combined (11 wins, five draws, two defeats).

Our loss in Munich was our third successive defeat in the Champions League, the longest sequence in the club’s history.

Eight Chelsea players made their Champions League debut for the club against Bayern Munich (Robert Sanchez, Malo Gusto, Tosin Adarabioyo, Moises Caicedo, Pedro Neto, Andrey Santos, Estevao Willian and Joao Pedro), the most for us in a single game in the competition.

The Blues have lost just one (Valencia 0-1 in 2019) of our past 23 matches at Stamford Bridge in the Champions League group/league stage, going back to 2013 (15 wins, seven draws).

Chelsea have faced three different Portuguese teams in European competition – Porto, Sporting Lisbon and Benfica.

Our results against Portuguese teams (including the FIFA Club World Cup):

Played 16
Won 12
Drew 1
Lost 3

Chelsea have maintained a perfect home record against Portuguese opposition at Stamford Bridge, winning all six matches (Porto 4, Benfica 1, Sporting 1).

However, there was one notable exception regarding the venue during the 2020/21 Champions League quarter-final.

Due to the Covid pandemic, the home leg against Porto could not be played at Stamford Bridge and was instead held at Estadio Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan in Seville, Spain (the away leg was also played there). Porto managed to score the only goal during stoppage time.

Six players have signed for Chelsea directly from Benfica, all in the last 21 years: Tiago (2004), Ramires (2010), David Luiz (2011), Nemanja Matic (2014), Enzo Fernandez (2023) and Diego Moreira (2023). Two have moved the other way: Scott Minto in 1997 and Matic in 2011.

Other players who played for both clubs include Joao Felix, Maniche, Mario Stanic and Emerson Thome.

Milestones

If selected, Moises Caicedo will start his 100th game for Chelsea in all competitions.

Benfica stats

Last season

Primeira Liga - Second (two points behind champions Sporting)
Taca de Portugal - Lost 1-3 to Sporting in the final
Taca da Liga - Beat Sporting in the final on penalties
Champions League - Lost 1-4 on aggregate to Barcelona in the round of 16
Club World Cup - Lost 1-4 to Chelsea after extra-time in the round of 16
Top scorer all competitions: Vangelis Pavlidis 30
Top league scorer: Vangelis Pavlidis 19

This is Benfica’s 45th European Cup campaign, behind only Real Madrid’s 56. This is their 20th appearance in the Champions League proper and 15th in the past 16 seasons.

Benfica won consecutive European Cups in 1961 and 1962, defeating Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively, but have not won the competition since, despite featuring in five more finals (1963, 1965, 1968, 1988, 1990).

In the Champions League era (1992 onwards), Benfica have reached the quarter-finals on six occasions but have never progressed past that stage, including in 2012 when we beat them 3-1 on aggregate.

In 2024/25, Benfica were 16th in the league phase (four wins, one draw, three defeats), beating Monaco 4-3 in the knockout phase play-off before a 1-4 aggregate last-16 defeat to Barcelona.

This season, they had to qualify through two rounds to reach the Champions League proper, beating Nice 4-0 on aggregate and then edging past Jose Mourinho’s Fenerbahce 1-0 following a narrow second-leg success in Lisbon.

The Eagles have won four of their last five away games in the Champions League group stage/league stage (one defeat), including the last two.

They have kept four clean sheets in their last five away European games.

Benfica are without a win in eight matches (including our Club World Cup fixture) against English teams (three draws, five defeats) since defeating Spurs in the 2013/14 Europa League Round of 16.

Benfica are unbeaten in the Primeira Liga this season with 17 points from seven games. They stand third, one point behind leaders Porto and Sporting who have a 100 per cent record. This is ahead of Porto playing on Monday night. Benfica have also defeated Sporting in the Portuguese Super Cup.

They are unbeaten on their travels this season in all competitions (five wins, one draw).

Our Matchweek 4 opponent Qarabag won their first match in the Champions League proper at Benfica on Matchweek 1. Qarabag produced a stunning comeback (0-2 down to win 3-2) in Lisbon to create history by becoming the first Azerbaijani side to win a Champions League proper match. It resulted in the sacking of Benfica’s Bruno Lage.

The defeat by Qarabag, a game in which Benfica had led 2-0 after 16 minutes, made it three consecutive losses in the Champions League proper.

Last five results

Santa Clara (h) D 1-1
Qarabag (CL h) L 2-3
AVS (a) W 3-0
Rio Ave (h) D 1-1
Gil Vicente (h) W 2-1

Now in charge of Benfica is Mourinho, our most successful manager in terms of trophies won. He led the team to seven major trophies in two spells between 2004 and 2007, and 2013 and 2015.

Mourinho selected this starting XI for last Friday’s league game against Gil Vicente: Trubin; Dedic, Silva, Otamendi (c), Dahl; Rios, Aursnes; Lukebakio, Sudakov, Schjelderup; Pavlidis

Jose Mourinho’s record v Chelsea

Won: 4
Drawn: 3
Lost: 7

MATCHWEEK 1 LINE-UP

Tuesday 16 September
Benfica 2 Qarabag 3
Team (4-2-3-1): Trubin; Dedic, Silva, Otamendi (c), Dahl; Rios (Barreiro 79), Barrenechea; Aursnes (Ivanovic 70), Sudakov, Schjelderup (Prestianni 70); Pavlidis (Araujo 79)
Goals: Barrenechea 6, Pavlidis 16 (Qarabag’s goals were scored on 30, 48 and 86 mins)
Attendance: 53,257

Match officials (all from Germany)

Referee: Daniel Siebert
Assistant referees: Jan Siedel, Rafael Foltyn
Fourth official: Sascha Stegemann
VAR: Christian Dingert