Can ‘The Special One’ stun Chelsea in Champions League showdown?

Jose Mourinho will return to Stamford Bridge on Tuesday evening as his Benfica side take on Chelsea in the Uefa Champions League group stages.

Mourinho earned legendary status among Chelsea fans in winning successive English Premier League titles when he took over as head coach at the Blues in 2004.

The self-proclaimed ‘Special One’ returned to Chelsea in 2013 and won another league title in the 2014/15 season. While that spell ended in some disarray in December 2015, Mourinho remains Chelsea’s most successful ever head coach.

Mourinho has faced Chelsea on several occasions as the head coach of different teams, from Inter Milan to Manchester United, to Tottenham Hotspur.

This is the first time, however, he will play them since the new ownership group took over in 2022, after the British government seized the assets of Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich.

Chelsea’s owners have certainly splashed the cash, but it is still unclear whether their strategy of signing mostly younger players on long-term contracts is working.

The Blues did win the Fifa Club World Cup and the Uefa Europa Conference League last season under Enzo Maresca, while also finishing fourth in the Premier League and qualifying for this season’s Champions League.

But this season has not started well at all, while the last week or so has been an unmitigated disaster, with Maresca’s side losing to Manchester United and Brighton, while also going down to Bayern Munich in their Champions League opener.

The Blues will look to bounce back against a beleaguered Benfica, who sacked their head coach Bruno Lage after an embarrassing Champions League opening defeat at home to Azerbaijan side Qarabag.

Mourinho has been tasked with turning their fortunes around – he was available after being sacked by Turkish giants Fenerbahce last month.

Chelsea did beat Benfica as recently as June, beating them 4-1 after extra time in the last 16 of the Club World Cup.

With Mourinho at the helm now, however, it brings a whole new energy into Tuesday’s game. Chelsea are still heavy favourites at 1.63 according to the latest Betway odds, compared to Benfica’s 5.40, with a draw at 4.30.

Please note that all Betway Odds are correct at the time of writing and subject to change.