Jose Mourinho names Chelsea player who was ‘struggling’ vs Benfica last night

Former Blues boss Jose Mourinho has named the Chelsea player who was ‘struggling’ against his Benfica side last night.

It was the return to Stamford Bridge again for the Special One, who of course received a good reception from the Chelsea fans. It was a happy return for The Blues fans because they were the winning side on the night, and Mourinho would have had mixed feelings after seeing his side lose to Chelsea.

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The only goal of the night came from a Benfica player, but the game ended 1-0 to Chelsea. It was an own goal of course bought on by some good play by Pedro Neto and Alejandro Garnacho to force it.

Mourinho’s return was obviously dominating the headlines before the game as you’d expect it to, and he was up to his antic again during the game. Chelsea fans will have grown used to him running up and down the Stamford Bridge touchline celebrating goals. And last night he was up and down the same touchline but for a different reason, and he wasn’t quite running either!

It was great to see Jose back at Stamford Bridge but even better of course that Chelsea got a very important three points in the Champions League and showed a bit of bounce back after a rough period.

Mourinho on Gusto

Malo Gusto with a Chelsea news logo. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

Mourinho said after the game that he saw right back Malo Gusto struggling for Chelsea.

In words cited on X after the game, Mourinho said:

“We saw Malo Gusto was struggling. Enzo Maresca put on a better player [Reece James] than Malo Gusto. This is the challenge of facing Chelsea.”

James could not start

We will need Reece James to start against Liverpool this weekend so he needed to rest as much as possible last night. We all know what his injury history is, and he needs protecting as much as possible.