{"id":473071,"date":"2025-09-30T21:45:35","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T21:45:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=473071"},"modified":"2025-09-30T23:22:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-30T23:22:16","slug":"own-goal-ruins-special-ones-return-to-chelsea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=473071","title":{"rendered":"Own goal ruins 'Special One's' return to Chelsea"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jose Mourinho's much hyped return to Stamford Bridge was spoiled as a first half own goal gifted Chelsea a 1-0 win over his new Benfica side in the Champions League<\/a> on Wednesday (AEST).<\/p>\n

Chelsea's Pedro Neto looped the ball to Alejandro Garnacho at the far post in the 18th minute and the Argentine stretched to turn it across the face of goal where the unfortunate Richard Rios could only poke it in his own net.<\/p>\n

Chelsea finished the game with 10 men after substitute Joao Pedro was sent off deep into added time for two yellow cards but it was a first win in this season's competition, albeit a scrappy one, for Enzo Maresca's team who lost their first Champions League outing in more than two years to Bayern Munich earlier this month.<\/p>\n

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\"Jose<\/p>\n

Mourinho, who won three league titles in two spells with Chelsea, took charge of Benfica less than two weeks ago after the side lost their first Champions League game to Azerbaijan's Qarabag and the Lisbon side sacked Bruno Lage.<\/p>\n

"This team is a team that is building confidence, and of course, to come here to concede, you could lose balance, you could lose emotional control, you could think that we are not well, and we are going to change and then destroy everything," Mourinho said on Stan Sport's post-match coverage.<\/p>\n

"They kept stable, they play the game. We tried. It's not enough, but as a coach that arrived 10 days ago, it's a positive feeling."<\/p>\n

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https:\/\/x.com\/StanSportFC\/status\/1973106246128435606<\/a><\/p>\n

Chants of \u201cJose Mourinho, Jose Mourinho\u201d swirled inside Stamford Bridge before kickoff as Chelsea fans welcomed him back.<\/p>\n

Wearing a white shirt under a dark coat, Mourinho exchanged pleasantries with Maresca in the tunnel before belatedly emerging to applause from the home fans just before kickoff.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t long before Chelsea\u2019s supporters were singing Mourinho\u2019s name.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/x.com\/StanSportFC\/status\/1973117830766752013<\/a><\/p>\n

He responded by waving to them and blowing a kiss.<\/p>\n

Toward the end of the first half, Mourinho – the centre of attention, as always – left his technical area, walked down the touchline and gestured to the traveling Benfica fans to stop throwing items at Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez as he took a corner.<\/p>\n

Fernandez left Benfica for Chelsea in 2023 for a then British record transfer fee.<\/p>\n

\"Fenerbahce<\/p>\n

Mourinho had two spells with Chelsea – from 2004-07 and then from 2013-15.<\/p>\n

He won a total of three Premier League titles and is still revered at the English club.<\/p>\n

He said he would \u201calways be a Blue.\u201d<\/p>\n

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"Of course I was focused on the game," Mourinho said.<\/p>\n

"But you have always a little bit of the sound and of course I thanked them (fans). When I am in London, I meet them every day on the street. I know that is going to be a relationship forever. Hopefully I come back here in 20 years with my grandkids. They belong to my history and I belong to their history."<\/p>\n

Mourinho – the self described 'Special One' – also won Champions League titles with Porto and Inter Milan. <\/p>\n

https:\/\/x.com\/Squawka\/status\/1973041599874847074<\/a><\/p>\n

He also managed Real Madrid, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur – an unforgivable move for many Chelsea fans at the time – and Roma.\ufeff<\/p>\n

As the big offers dried up, Mourinho went on to coach Fenerbahce in Turkey where he lasted little more than a year before his return to Portuguese football with Benfica.<\/p>\n

"My career took me to a position where everybody thinks I have magic to make things happen," Mourinho said.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/x.com\/premierleague\/status\/1973106450781122907<\/a><\/p>\n

"With me, it's never enough. If I am in the job, it's because I like to put myself on the line every day. I am desperate to win the next match, that's my nature."<\/p>\n

Mourinho said he thought Benfica had deserved more from the game. <\/p>\n

"We started well, we controlled well. I don't know if I can say big chances but we had chances for sure."<\/p>\n

\"Kane<\/p>\n

Maresca said he was relieved to secure a win – albeit a scrappy one – after two consecutive defeats in the Premier League and a 3-1 loss at Bayern Munich in the his side's Champions League opener.<\/p>\n

"Sometimes you need to learn to win in another way," he said of Chelsea's improved defensive performance.<\/p>\n

"At least we learned how to win a game with a red card."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jose Mourinho's much hyped return to Stamford Bridge was spoiled as a first half own goal gifted Chelsea a 1-0 win over his new Benfica […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":473073,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473071"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=473071"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473071\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":473076,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/473071\/revisions\/473076"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/473073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=473071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=473071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=473071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}