Frank Lampard warned Barcelona that he has ‘unfinished business’ with them after Chelsea reached the Champions League semi-finals.
The midfielder scored the first goal from the penalty spot before Raul Meireles sealed a 2-1 win over 10-man Benfica with a stunning breakaway goal in stoppage time at Stamford Bridge.
Lampard is still smarting about the controversial semi-final loss to Barca in 2009 and said: ‘Everyone’s got unfinished business with them. That game is still in our minds but this is a different year.
‘They’ll be favourites but we’ve got belief. They’re the greatest team in the world but we believe we can do it.’
If Chelsea do overcome Barcelona, they could meet their old boss Jose Mourinho in the final after his Real Madrid side completed an 8-2 aggregate win over APOEL Nicosia to set up a semi against Bayern Munich.
But Mourinho, who believes officials give Barca favourable treatment, said: ‘I don’t think it will be a Real-Chelsea final. It could be Bayern or Barcelona.
‘I just don’t think it will be Real Madrid v Chelsea – and we know why.’
Benfica manager Jorge Jesus also claimed Chelsea have ‘no chance’ against Barcelona and criticised referee, Damir Skomina of Slovenia.
Jesus said: ‘I’m really proud of my players. Over the two games we proved we were much the better team. I can’t understand how we’re out. We were penalised by the referee tonight, unfortunately, and unjustly.
‘What hurts me is that we’ve knocked out better teams than Chelsea. I believe Chelsea have no chance against Barca.’
Chelsea interim coach Roberto Di Matteo said: ‘Benfica are a good side and they’ve showed it many times before. The second goal was missing, they still had a chance and they knew that. We missed a lot of chances to kill the game.
‘Barcelona are probably one of the best, if not the best team in the world. We’re happy and excited to be able to play a semi-final against a big team.’
Chelsea are worried about the fitness of John Terry after he was forced to leave the field on the hour complaining he could hardly breathe.
The defender suffered a recurrence of a rib injury sustained in the first leg against Benfica and will have a scan today amid fears he has two fractures.
