TALKING POINTSChelsea have the chance to join a genuinely elite group of clubs this evening but may have to show all the hunger and determination of last season's Champions League triumph to achieve it.
Here's hoping it is fourth time lucky for silverware this season after defeat in the Community Shield, UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup.
Victory would put the Stamford Bridge club on the same pedestal as Bayern Munich, Juventus and Ajax, whose stadium hosts tonight's showpiece. The Pensioners would stand alongside those greats as the fourth club to win all three of UEFA's major trophies. If the UEFA Super Cup is added, the current coterie is reduced to just Juve and Ajax.
The 65cm high, Italian-designed trophy, a handle-less silver cup with a yellow marble plinth, is the old UEFA Cup, first lifted in 1972.
This is Chelsea's 11th final in the 10 years of the Roman Abramovich era - the 12th if you include this season's Super Cup - and our fifth European final overall. It is Benfica's ninth European final but their first in 23 years; they were defeated in their last six.
After a magnificent start to the new year the Eagles have hit a rocky patch, registering just three wins in their last eight matches in all competitions. They have won once in four away trips (courtesy of a penalty and a MarÃtimo player's own goal) and have not won on the road in their last two Europa League matches, at Newcastle (1-1) and Fenerbahçe (0-1).
However, Chelsea's away victory at Basel in the semi-final was the team's first since Prague in February.
Never the less Benfica's untimely dip was emphasised on Saturday night at the home of title rivals Porto. In a dramatic conclusion to the title showdown at the Dragao, Kelvin struck a winner for Vitor Pereira's side in the 93rd minute.
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