Proud Benitez celebrates ‘special night’

Rafael Benitez spoke of his joy after Chelsea’s Europa League triumph and suggested their season should be regarded as a success.

The Blues’ 2-1 win against Benfica in Amsterdam, clinched by Branislav Ivanovic’s late header, meant they became only the fourth club to win all three major European trophies.

It also means the much-maligned interim manager has delivered silverware as well as a top-four finish during his eventful spell at the helm.

And Benitez declared: “It is a special night for everyone involved, because when you play in a European final and win you have to be pleased. I am really proud of everyone.

“We won the Europa League with one striker [Fernando Torres] – the same striker played in every game – and we managed with players on yellow cards.

“With a squad that was not too big – today with one or two injuries we had 18 players – I think that we did well.

“After today we have scored 145 goals, which is a record in the history of the club. We do not concede too many, the balance is growing and we are improving a lot of things.

“But, you have to win for people to realise the job you are doing, then it is okay, we won. Hopefully now people will say that it is not bad.”

And Benitez revealed that Ivanovic’s all-important header from Juan Mata’s corner was the result of work done on the training ground – and advice from Chelsea’s former Benfica star David Luiz.

The Spaniard explained: “Ivanovic scored a great goal and it was something that we were practicing, because we knew how they were defending corners and we tried to exploit problems they have.

“We were working with the technical staff analysing this and David Luiz was telling us, because he was there before, about problems they were having with this, so we were trying to take advantage.”

Follow West London Sport on Twitter
Find us on Facebook