Barcelona may not be having sleepless nights yet, but the London club's spirit has been ably restored
The way Chelsea are battling through their fixtures, summoning the sort of pride and resilience so conspicuously absent under André Villas-Boas, you would put nothing past them. Except, of course, getting the better of Barcelona over two legs of a European Cup semi-final later this month. But let us leave that to the future, and allow Roberto Di Matteo to savour last night's success in overcoming a brave and skilful Benfica team, who went a goal and a man down in the first half, fought back to parity on the night, and finally had their hopes crushed by Raul Meireles' injury-time thunderbolt.
Who could have imagined, when Di Matteo returned to Stamford Bridge on the opening day of the 2010-11 season and watched his newly promoted West Bromwich Albion team slump to a 6-0 defeat, that he would be back, one sacking and one astonishing return later, to lead Chelsea to the semi-final of the competition that interests Roman Abramovich more than any other?
As sometimes happens, the best-laid plans turned out to be less effective than the piece of desperate improvisation required to put Di Matteo in temporary charge. While it could have been predicted that the change would lift the players' spirits, the extent of their mental and tactical liberation has been sufficient, in the space of nine matches under the Italian, to virtually rescue their season.
Seven of those games have been won, including the stirring 4-1 defeat of a very good Napoli side. One was drawn, and one – away to Manchester City – lost. Whatever happens in the semi-finals against Barcelona and Tottenham Hotspur (in the FA Cup), and in their last seven Premier League fixtures, it seems likely that the players will be able to end the season with their heads held high. If the football has not been of the highest standard in aesthetic terms, certainly not the sort of resplendent stuff that Abramovich had in mind when he bought the club, it has been out of the top drawer in terms of morale. That is a stunning transformation, replicating the mood-switch that occurred three years ago when Guus Hiddink was parachuted in to take over a team left in disarray by the regime of Luiz Felipe Scolari.
What this says about the mindset of the squad is something that Abramovich and his advisers will need to contemplate in the months ahead, as they consider their next choice of manager. For now, though, they are likely to be simply grateful for the way Di Matteo has doused the embers of discontent and fanned the flame of self-respect.
Frank Lampard struck the blow that opened the way to a reunion with Barcelona, his penalty in the 21st minute being his 24th goal in 85 European appearances for Chelsea. Perhaps more than any of his team-mates, the veteran midfielder demonstrates the change undergone by the team in the month since the owner bowed to the wishes of his senior players and gave Villas-Boas his walking papers.
Crucially, it appears, being left out of the starting line-up by Di Matteo is not the same as being dropped by his predecessor. Lampard had chafed when left on the bench by the Portuguese manager for the first leg against Napoli in February but, having been recalled by Di Matteo for the return, reacted with complete equanimity to a place among the substitutes in Lisbon last week. "It's fair to say Roberto explained to me exactly why I wasn't starting," the midfielder said. "I respected his decision."
Lampard spoke of how the Italian's coaching philosophy had concentrated on going back to "simple things that we can all understand", which suggests that Villas-Boas's regime concentrated too much on an over-elaborate playbook rather than giving the team a basic structure and encouraging the players to use it as the platform on which to do what they do best as individuals.
There was certainly nothing sophisticated in the way Chelsea went about their work last night. When Jorge Jesus, the visiting manager, declared afterwards that Benfica had been the better side in both legs, he was doing more than just whistling to keep his players' spirits up. On the balance of chances, however, he could have little to complain about. On another night Juan Mata, Salomon Kalou and even Fernando Torres might all have made better use of hard-won opportunities.
If Di Matteo has reawakened Lampard's enthusiasm, he has also succeeding in giving a boost to the Chelsea careers of a handful of other players, including Torres, Kalou, Mikel John Obi and David Luiz, all of whom have been heavily criticised or even written off this season. The Italian caretaker has made them fixed points in his team, and so far has reaped the rewards. Although Pep Guardiola is unlikely to be lying awake at night, Barcelona's head coach will certainly be aware of the threat posed by a team who were in pieces only a few weeks ago but are now all the more dangerous for the feeling that they have nothing to lose.