Champions League preview: Chelsea v Nordsjaelland

Rafael Benitez

If Chelsea become the first holders of the Champions League to be eliminated before the knockout stages begin, then the supporters’ animosity towards Rafael Benitez will reach new levels.

The Spaniard must be wondering whether accepting the call of Roman Abramovich, the Blues’ owner who ruthlessly sacked Roberto Di Matteo after the club’s 3-0 defeat away at Juventus two weeks’ ago, was worth this much hassle.

His brief spell working as a television pundit was about as stressful as a spa break in comparison.

Benitez insists that he blocks out any negativity from the crowd, and focuses on his team and nothing else – but should he fail to secure his first victory at home to Nordsjaelland on Wednesday then the disillusioned Chelsea fans are guaranteed to make themselves heard loud and clear.

Another hostile reception will greet the experienced Spanish coach, who was already deeply unpopular with the Stamford Bridge crowd because of comments made while in charge of Liverpool, when he takes his seat in the home dugout for the third time.

A poor start, though, has hardly helped his cause. Saturday’s surprise 3-1 defeat away at West Ham was Benitez’s third match in charge of the west London outfit – and the third time he had failed to deliver three points.

Chelsea, as a direct consequence of recent poor results, have lost ground on both Manchester teams in the race for the Premier League title, and now face the humiliation of becoming the first club in the history of the Champions League to be knocked out in the group stages after lifting the prestigious trophy at the end of the previous season.

If they are eliminated from the competition this week, then even the most anti-Benitez Blues fan would need to hold their hands up and admit the Spaniard is not the man to blame – unless, of course, Chelsea fail to capitalise on a Juventus slip-up at Shakhtar Donetsk.

Stamford Bridge and Shakhtar’s Donbass Arena may be almost 2,000 miles apart, but they will be closely linked on Wednesday night, when results at the two grounds will decide who qualifies first, second and third in Group E.

Shakhtar are already safely through and require a draw against Juve to win the group; Juventus will qualify for the last 16 with a draw against the Ukrainian champions, while Chelsea must beat the eliminated Nordsjaelland and hope Shakhtar also win.

After last season’s unforgettable heroics in Munich, nobody connected with the Blues – especially the Champions League-loving Abramovich – will relish the prospect of competing in the Europa League round of 32.

But the Russian billionaire must have full faith in Benitez to deliver the win that will at least leave Chelsea in contention for second place in Group E – or else why would he have made the appointment?

It’s likely that Benitez will analyse the DVD of October’s match between Nordsjaelland and Chelsea, who recorded an emphatic 4-0 victory in Copenhagen under the management of Di Matteo.

Nobody could have predicted back then that, less than two months later, the man who led the club to European glory for the first time in their history would be left searching for a new job.

But it shows how quickly things change in football, and perhaps an upturn in fortunes is just around the corner for the beleaguered Benitez, who feels his new players desperately need is an injection of confidence to get their campaign back on track.

“We will try to adjust things and if the players are more comfortable in terms of what they have to do on the pitch, you can give them some confidence,” he told Chelsea’s website. “These are players that have won the Champions League and have won a lot of trophies so they have to show this character.”

With a little help from Shakhtar, the confidence could soon come flooding back.

But Benitez and the Chelsea players should ensure they do their job against the team who have conceded more goals than any other in this season’s Champions League group stages.

Prediction: Chelsea 2 Nordsjaelland 0

Rob Swan - follow me on Twitter

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