© EuroFootball.com
London's "Chelsea" redeemed a poor performance in the Champions League tournament with a victory in the Europa League. The club's fans, who had loudly and demonstratively expressed dissatisfaction with the team's coach Rafael Benitez throughout the season, seemed to forget the failures and disappointments after the 2-1 victory in the tournament final against Lisbon's "Benfica" and thanked the coach for the win.
R. Benitez himself did not try to hide his joy and emotions after the excellent victory in the Europa League final.
"I am proud of the team. It was not easy, we talked all the time about the tough matches ahead. I am very pleased to win with this team, I will repeat, I am proud of them.
In the second half, we played brilliantly. We had more problems in the first half playing against a very good team. I am very happy for the players and for the whole club. They deserved the victory, they worked hard all season."
"Chelsea" fans started to cheer when their team's coach began to celebrate the victory, as if they had forgotten their previous gestures towards the Spanish coach, and R. Benitez believes that this victory will be essential in remembering his time at Chelsea.
"Analyzing the match, we won the Europa League final playing with only one winger. We only had 18 players available for this match. Putting everything together, you will understand how difficult it was to achieve the victory."
R. Benitez emphasized the contributions of Fernando Torres and Frank Lampard to the victory.
"During the season, many players had to improve their fitness, Fernando was one of them. Many people mentioned that working with me, Fernando revealed himself and reached his optimal form.
He worked hard with physical trainers and consulted with medical specialists, and you saw once again that he was very different in the final than at the start of the season.
Frank is a great expert. He put a lot of effort into every training session, in every match his game gets better.
"Benfica" played well in the first half of the match, but the differences between the teams were highlighted by the players' individual skill.
It was the final, maybe we only had one chance to win the Europa League, and we took it," - rejoiced the Spaniard R. Benitez after the victory.
The author of the second goal Branislav Ivanovic, who missed last year's Champions League final due to disqualification, is now preparing for the celebration.
"A great feeling to play in the final. "Benfica" played very well, but we took advantage of set pieces better. After one of them, I was lucky to score at the end of the match.
Now it's time to celebrate. The club's fans and team deserve such a victory this season," - said the author of the winning goal, Serbian B. Ivanovic.
