Chelsea wins Europa League final at the death

Chelsea wins Europa League final at the death

Chelsea became this Wednesday, the first team to win both the Champions League and the Europa League. Not only that, it did so in consecutive seasons. The Londoners struggled, so much that the winning goal against Benfica, which ended the need for extra-time, came from a corner that Branislav Ivanovic headed home in the third minute of injury time. The referee had decreed exactly that, three minutes.

In terms of football, Benfica played a great game, but came up short in front of Petr Cech's goal. Chelsea struggled throughout the first half an hour, but reacted well to open the scoring in the 59th minute. Cech threw the ball out to midfield. Juan Mata let it pass by him and the ball found Fernando Torres, who powered past Argentine centre-back Garay, dribbled around Benfica’s goalkeeper, Artur to make it 1-0 at the Amsterdam Arena.

Benfica kept believing in its chances and tried to re-group, somewhat unsuccessfully with its own brand of attacking football. Paraguay’s Oscar Cardozo levelled the game from the penalty spot in the 68th minute after César Azpilicueta handled the ball inside the Chelsea area.

The game then became one of end-to-end chances for both teams. Even after Ivanovic's miraculous injury-time header, Cardozo almost equalised for the Portuguese, but Gary Cahill, on the ground, kept the ball out with the tip of his toe.

from www.marca.com