Is Benitez Brilliant?

Rafael Benitez has successfully guided Chelsea to the final of the UEFA Cup meaning he is one match away from adding another European title to his CV.

Benitez was brought in to ensure Chelsea’s season did not become a disaster when it became obvious that they would not qualify for the second round of the Champions League.

His primary objective was to secure Champions League football for next year, and while Chelsea are in third place, with the first four teams in the league qualifying for the Champions League, they do have Tottenham and Arsenal close behind them.

However Rafa Benitez has never managed to win over the Chelsea fans.

Booed on arrival, with his predecessors name, Roberto Di Matteo, still being sung at every home game, with a round of applause going around the ground in the 16^th minute of every game as a homage to Di Matteo’s shirt number when he played for the blues.

Benitez was also a fierce adversary of legendary Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, and made a number of scathing comments about Chelsea’s fans which have not been quickly forgiven.

Benitez took over Chelsea as they hit a run of bad form which saw them narrowly edged out of the Champions League by strong Juventus and Shakthar Donetsk teams, with the team four points off the top of the Premier League.

Di Matteo managed Chelsea through a run of fixtures which included Manchester United twice, Swansea, Shaktar Donetsk, Liverpool, Juventus and an in form West Brom.  This run knocked Chelsea off top, however they were still only 4 points behind, 5 points ahead of Tottenham and 7 ahead of Arsenal.

Now Chelsea are 20 points off the top, only 1 point ahead of Arsenal, and 3 ahead of Tottenham.   

They lost in the Club World Cup final, in the League Cup semi final to Swansea and the FA Cup semi final to Manchester City.  They still have a tough Benfica side to overcome in the UEFA Cup final.   

Benitez has not won anything yet.

While the performance is not poor, even by Chelsea’s high standards, it is difficult to see where Benitez markedly improved on the performance of Di Matteo, who brought Chelsea the Champions League and FA Cup trophies last year.

To have a club legend replaced by a manager who has previously been successful with your rivals, was understandably difficult for Chelsea fans.

Whether it has brought Chelsea any improved results on the pitch is still debateable.