When the sides met in 2012 over two legs, Chelsea won by a single goal home and away on their path to Champions League glory, 2-1 at Stamford Bridge and 1-0 in Portugal.
Chelsea are the favourites to win the final, priced at betting odds of 7/5 with Bet365 and others, compared to 11/5 for Benfica (Boylesports) and odds of 23/10 for the draw (Stan James). At those odds, given Rafa Benitez will put all his focus into his side lifting the trophy, we think Chelsea offer decent value.
Both sides performed well in their semi-final second legs and each earned 3-1 home victories. Benfica overturned a one-goal first leg deficit against Fenerbahce to win 3-2 on aggregate, two goals from Oscar Cardozo and one from Nicolas Gaitan cancelling out Dirk Kuyt’s penalty for Fenerbahce.
Chelsea, meanwhile, overcame the tough Swiss side Basel, despite being a goal down at half time. Goals from Fernando Torres, Victor Moses and a wonder-strike from David Luiz secured passage to the final. Chelsea fans will be hoping the Brazilian can repeat the feat against his former side.
Overall, we think Chelsea will edge this match as they did the encounters last season, and backing them to do so by a one goal margin looks good to us at betting odds of 16/5 with Paddy Power. Backing both teams to score also holds some appeal at 4/5 with Bet365 as both sides go all out to lift the Europa League trophy.