Chelsea v Benfica – Europa League Final Match Preview and Betting Tip

Betting Tips | Article posted on May 12th, 2025

Rafael Benitez’s Chelsea legacy, or lack thereof, will rest almost completely on the Europa League final with Benfica, which will be played in Ajax’s Amsterdam Arena on Wednesday. Should the Spaniard manage to mastermind a Chelsea victory, then he can point to a pretty successful period coaching the London club, in which he secured Champions League football, had some good cup runs, and won a major European trophy. If he fails, then the naysayers who have plagued the months he has spent has Blues boss will claim that they were right all along.

Certainly Benitez leaves the club and squad in a better state than he found it, regardless of the result of this game. Fernando Torres has begun scoring again. David Luiz has really begun to look the world-class player many suspected that he was. The evolution of John Terry and Frank Lampard into players that contribute to the team, but don’t play every game as a matter of course, has been handled better by Benitez than any of his predecessors. And the team has played some pretty stylish attacking football at times. One feels that the pragmatism of a Mourinho will be able to galvanise this very talented Chelsea squad into a pretty formidable outfit. And it will help, of course, if Radamel Falcao is recruited from Atletico Madrid.

One of the aforementioned achievements of Benitez provides him with his greatest selection conundrum going into this game. John Terry and Frank Lampard are no longer the first names on the Blues team-sheet, yet most Chelsea fans would feel more assured with both of them in the starting line-up for this game. Lampard has a particularly strong case to start having struck two crucial goals at the weekend against Aston Villa to ensure that Chelsea will play in the Champions League next season. This may seem him preferred to Jon Obi Mikel. Terry can expect to start on the bench.

Benfica have had an excellent run to the final and are a formidable team, with two highly sought after players, Oscar Cardozo and Nicolás Gaitán the star performers for the Portugese. However, they had a disastrous, potentially title losing 2-1 defeat to Porto at the weekend, in which they conceded the winner in injury time, that could have hurt their confidence ahead of this fixture.

Chelsea (possible 4-2-3-1)

Cech

Azpilicueta • Ivanovic • Cahill • Cole

Lampard • Ramires

Mata • Oscar • Hazard

Torres

Benfica (possible 4-2-3-1)

BMoraes

Almeida • Garay • Jardel • Pereira

Matić • Pérez

Salvio • Lima • Gaitán

Cardozo

Betting Prediction

I think Chelsea are the superior team going into this game, and they certainly should have the superior morale. I’m going to tip the Blues to win this one, and I think it’ll be a fairly open and entertaining game for a final.

Final Scoreline Prediction:Chelsea 2 – 1 Benfica

Other Recommended Bets: Over 2.5 Goals, Both Teams to Score.

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