LONDON — Chelsea has a chance to finish the season with another
European trophy — even though it wasn’t the one they originally set out
for.
Chelsea reached its first Europa League final on Thursday after
finishing off Basel with a comeback 3-1 win at Stamford Bridge, giving
the team a chance to salvage some pride after becoming the first
reigning Champions League holder to get knocked out in the group stage.
“Really pleased to be there,” interim Chelsea manager Rafa
Benitez said. “We’ve been working so hard through the year to be in a
semifinal, final. And now we’re in the final. The players really deserve
to be there.”
Fernando Torres scored one goal and set up another, while David Luiz added a spectacular curling strike to cap the victory.
Chelsea held a 2-1 lead from the first leg but Basel threatened a
comeback when Mohamed Salah put the Swiss side ahead in first-half
injury time.
But Torres engineered the comeback after the break, equalizing in
the 50th and helping create the second for Victor Moses just two
minutes later.
David Luiz finished off the victory in style, curling in an
unstoppable strike from outside the area in the 59th as Chelsea advanced
5-2 on aggregate.
Chelsea will play Benfica in the final in Amsterdam on May 15 in
what will be Benitez’s only chance to finish his tenure with a trophy.
Benfica beat Turkish club Fenerbahce 3-1 at home to turn around a 1-0
deficit from the first leg and advance.
Chelsea lost the final in the Club World Cup this season along
with defeats in the European Super Cup and England’s Community Shield,
but will be a big favorite against Benfica.
“We have one more opportunity to win a big title,” Luiz said. “We have lost three finals this season.”
Benitez is widely expected to leave in the offseason and the
crowd made it clear they won’t miss him, with chants of “Jose Mourinho”
ringing out regularly around Stamford Bridge. Mourinho hinted strongly
at a return to the London club on Wednesday after Real Madrid was
eliminated in the Champions League semifinals.
But Benitez once again found a way to turn a game around in the
second half, after Basel had taken advantage of poor defending to go
ahead just before the break.
Valentin Stocker fed Salah with a pass through two defenders that
beat the offside trap and set him free against Cech, and the winger
calmly slotted his finish into the left side of the net.
The lead didn’t last long though, and Chelsea took full control
after the break — although Benitez wouldn’t say what he told the team at
halftime.
“It was just things we weren’t doing well, things we could improve,” Benitez said. “And the reaction was really good.”
Frank Lampard’s low shot from outside the area was saved by Yann
Sommer, and Torres slid in to fire the rebound into the roof of the net
for the equalizer. The second came almost immediately and in similar
fashion. This time it was Torres who fired a shot from outside the area
that was deflected into the path of Moses, who slotted in from nearly
the same spot.
If those goals were more gritty than pretty, David Luiz added a bit of flair seven minutes later.
Lampard collected a cross outside the area and thought about
shooting before laying the ball off to the Brazilian defender, whose
left-footed shot curled perfectly into the far corner past a helpless
Sommer.
“In the first half we played very good and I think we caused
Chelsea some problems,” Basel coach Murat Yakin said. “In the second
half, it just went too fast. We made a few mistakes and we were caught
out cold. But I want to give compliments to my team, we put in a great
performance here.”
Lampard was looking to equal Bobby Tambling’s club record of 202
career goals and nearly converted Chelsea’s first chance in the eighth
minute. Torres played Lampard clear with a delicate lob into the area,
but the midfielder’s first-time effort bounced against the far post.
With the game out of reach in the closing minutes, Basel’s fans
saluted their team’s run to the semifinals by lighting flares and
unfurling flags in the away section, jumping up and down and applauding.
Basel still has a shot at a domestic double as it tops the Swiss league and has reached the cup final.
“This was a great experience for us, but it’s also a new
experience for us to be still in three competitions in May,” Yakin said.
“I think that the team has really grown from this.
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