Mourinho intervened after the travelling fans began hurling objects from the away end towards Fernandez. He left his technical area and walked down the touchline towards the away end, waving his arms above his head, then made a calming gesture, pleading with Benfica fans to behave. The Benfica faithful were still fuming over the circumstances surrounding Fernandez’s departure in 2023, which saw him force through a move to Chelsea for £106 million ($142.7m) after spending just six months at Estadio da Luz. There was little to cheer for the Portuguese supporters, who watched their side lose 1-0, courtesy of an own goal from Richard Rios.
Fernandez suffered abuse from Benfica fans for refusing to remain in Portugal after Chelsea met the release clause in the contract he had signed from River Plate in his native Argentina. Following his departure, Benfica president Rui Costa made a number of revelations about the circumstances around his exit. Costa said: “Enzo Fernandez did not want to stay at Benfica. He didn’t give us any chance. I did my best, I’m sad, but I’m not going to cry for a player who didn’t want to stay. When Chelsea arrived, it was really impossible to change his mind. During deadline day we found an agreement to sell Enzo to Chelsea in the summer but he didn’t want to stay. From the moment Enzo realised (Chelsea would pay) the value of the clause it was unrelenting. We tried to insist, but the player did not show any openness to continuing at Benfica. I proposed to Chelsea that he stay until the summer for a lower value, but the player did not want to continue at Benfica – and this is when everything changed.”
Mourinho’s return to west London was the much-hyped story of the night, but there were no fireworks at Stamford Bridge as Chelsea ground out a 1-0 win in a game that was short on clear chances and quality. The Blues’ former boss was given a warm welcome from Chelsea fans, who are still grateful for his two trophy-laden spells in charge of the club, during which they landed three Premier League titles, the FA Cup and three League Cups. But the Portuguese ultimately suffered defeat at his old stomping ground. After the match, Mourinho said to Stan Sport: “This team is a team that is building confidence, and of course, to come here to concede, you could lose balance, you could lose emotional control, you could think that we are not well, and we are going to change and then destroy everything. They kept stable, they play the game. We tried. It’s not enough, but as a coach that arrived 10 days ago, it’s a positive feeling.”
