London - Arabstoday
After overcoming Napoli in the previous round thanks to a remarkable 5-4 victory
after extra-time, the Blues will be taking his side to Portugal for the first-leg on
March 27.
Roberto Di Matteo’s men have, initially, avoided the ‘big guns’ with the draw for
the last-eight and Wilkins thinks his former club have to be happy with the result.
\"They’ve got a good draw,” Wilkins told Sky Sports. “Away at Benfica first and
then back at Stamford Bridge I think the lads will be absolutely delighted with
that.\"
When asked if Chelsea will find the first-leg tricky the 55-year-old responded: \"Yes,
most certainly. The important thing whenever you play away first is to still be in the
tie when the second leg comes around and that’ll be Chelsea’s objective.
“They’ll try and score there and make it extremely difficult for Benfica when they
go to Stamford Bridge but you have to say to arrive in the quarter-final of the
Champions League and to play Benfica you’d have taken that when the
Championship started off.\"
Wilkins also feels that Chelsea have a big advantage with the second-leg to be
played at Stamford Bridge, just like it was for their thrilling win over Napoli in the
previous round.
He added: “It’s a massive advantage for you when you know exactly what you’ve
got to do on your home turf - as happened to Chelsea in the last round against
Napoli.
Should they progress, they face tough semi-final opposition against either AC Milan
or Barcelona, but Wilkins thinks Chelsea would be a daunting task for anyone as
they attempt to win the competition for the first time in their history.
He said: “They’ll be absolutely thrilled [after drawing Benfica] but the
prospect of meeting Barcelona or AC Milan in the semi-final… whenever
you get to a semi-final you expect to play top class and that’s what
they’ll be playing against and I’m sure they’ll do themselves proud.”?