Chelsea has beaten Benfica Lisbon in a thrilling Europa League final 2-1 this morning after a 0-0 first half that saw the best chance fall to Chelsea’s Frank Lampard. But the best was yet to come, with Branislav Ivanovic scoring a dramatic last minute header for the win.
Lampard struck from distance in the first spell and his swirling ball had caught Artur Moraes off balance, but the Benfica goalkeeper somehow throwing out a left hand to deny Lampard and Chelsea. Later in the second half, he struck the wood work with a cracker but could not crack the back of the net.
But the English Premier League side scored first through Fernando Torres in the 60th minute after the Spaniard latched onto a messy through ball.
Keeper Petr Cech had cleared and the Benfica defence did nothing to deal with it, Torres shrugging off Luisao and then sidestepping the Benfica goalkeeper Artur to tuck it into the back of the net.
But the lead was short-lived, a penalty by Oscar Cordoza nullifying Torres’s goal. Cardoza had clipped the ball into the penalty area when a header hit the outstretched arm of Cesar Azpilicueto. Cordoza fired the ball down the middle while Cech had dived to his left.
Ivanovic heading a late goal to win the match in the third minute of added time.
Watch the video for the goals and highlights.
3 News
source: newshub archive
