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{ John Terry - Chelsea (Getty Images)John Terry has urged his Chelsea team-mates to keep on fighting to ensure they find some consistent form off the back of their comfortable 2-0 Champions League victory over Copenhagen.

After abject performances in recent weeks, and a penalty shoot-out FA Cup exit at the hands of Everton on Saturday, club captain Terry echoed the fighting talk of manager Carlo Ancelotti before the match, and is hopeful that re-capturing the winning feeling could spark a fresh run of form.

The 30-year-old told Sky Sports: “It’s a good lift, obviously winning does that, you can see the buzz in the dressing room but it’s important now we continue this run again this could be the start of it as I said yesterday.

“The manager said we’re still not dead, there are still an awful lot of points to play for and we will keep fighting.”

Terry and his defensive comrades had little to do in a game which Chelsea eased through and the skipper was pleased with how his side executed their plans for the fixture, showering particular praise on the Blues strike force.

Quizzed on his views of the performance, Terry said: “Exactly what we asked for yesterday, I thought we set out our game plan very well, the two up top worked very well and with the pace of the two guys up-front it caused difficulties all night for them.”

Chelsea’s front pairing on the night saw Fernando Torres and Nicolas Anelka lead the line, with the Frenchman grabbing the headlines while the Spaniard came close to breaking his duck on several occasions.

Anelka put Chelsea in-front on 17 minutes and the Blues never looked in threat of losing their lead, only capable of extending it. The Frenchman obliged early in the second period when rounding off a sweet Chelsea move with a crisp drive across the helpless Copenhagen 'keeper.

Commenting on Anelka, Terry added: “Fantastic, it’s difficult for the strikers at the minute because there’s so much competition, but credit to themselves, Didier when he came on as well caused a lot of trouble, they seem to be clicking and working well.

“And obviously it’s always going to take a couple of weeks for the guys to settle in, hopefully this is the start of very good partnerships.”


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Labels: build, CALLS, champions, Chelsea, Copenhagen, Goalcom, league, Terry, victory

Sporting 0-2 Benfica

Benfica continued their staggering run of victories with a 2-0 win at the Estadio Jose Alvalado over Sporting in the Lisbon derby. A fiesty evening saw Benfica play the second-half with only ten players after Sidnei saw red, but it only made their victory more impressive as Sporting struggled to break their visitors down.

Salvio latched on to a cross from Nicolas Gaitan to give the Eagles the lead early in the contest but Sporting valiantly came back with a good spell before half-time. Despite having their rivals down to ten for the whole second-half, the Lions couldn't force clear chances and suffered a hammer blow when Gaitan volleyed in Benfica's second to seal three points.
The game was delayed as early as the 2nd minute when a flare was thrown on to the field but it was the visitors Benfica who sparked to life first. An intricate move between Salvio and Gaitan found the later in space insdie the box, but the midfielder wrapped his foot round the ball too much and bent it harmlessly out of play.

The urgency of a derby occasion was preventing either side settling in the first ten minutes. Mistakes were creeping in, one of which almost proved costly for Benfica when Joao Pereira was bundled over in the box, however three players were offside in the move and Benfica escaped with a free-kick.

The Eagles made their bright start pay dividends in the 15th minute, a poor clearance from Rui Patricio landed at the feet Gaitan, who skipped past his marker and drifted a cross through the box Salvio for a smart low finish.

Benfica were biding their time holding out Sporting and striking them on the break, another cross from Gaitan, who was a joy to watch in the first-half, was met once more by Salvio at the far post but this time the winger could only force his header wide under pressure.

Sporting were creating their best openings themselves on the break from Benfica's corners, twice Yannick Djalo finding space to aim at goal but Roberto remained untroubled.

As the game began to swing in the home side's favour, the Lions thought they had pulled level five minutes before half-time. Helder Postiga was alert on the edge of the box to take his chance brilliantly but the referee's assistant adjudged the forward offside.

With less than a minute left to play before the break Benfica were reduced to ten men. Central defender Sidnei was the culprit in a heated affair which was inevitably going to see the referee step in. A second yellow card was shown to the Brazilian for bringing down Helder Postiga on the run and it left Benfica coach Jorge Jesus with some concern for his side for the second-half.

Sporting very nearly scrambled their way back into the game following a clash of heads between Cristiano and Jardel. Seven minutes into the second period, and while others were waiting for the referee to react to a double head injury, Matias Fernandez dribbled his way into the box only for Roberto to deny him with a super save; Djalo was then unable to follow the rebound in with the Red Devils in panic.

Benfica were making their chances count and when it mattered just after the hour mark. Gaitan's initial burst from his own-half won his side a free-kick on the edge of the area and the resulting corner was finished off by the young Argentine. A deep ball was held up by Oscar Cardozo and the cross of Maximiliano Pereira was volley home by Gaitan with the aid of a touch off Anderson Polga.

The Verde e Brancos had only scored 13 goals on home soil previously and badly struggled to find a key pass to unlock Luisao's strictly marshalled defence. Delays for injuries and substitutions allowed the hosts six minutes of additional time at the end of the game but it wasn't to be.

The victory pulls Benfica to within 8 points of Porto at the top of the table, leaving Sporting trailing top spot by 15 points.

Sporting: Rui Patricio; Pereira, Anderson Polga, Torsiglieri, Grimi (Maniche); Andre Santos; Mendes (Saleiro), Fernandez; Djalo. Cristiano (Diogo); Helder Postiga.

Benfica: Roberto; Pereira, Luisao, Sidnei, Coentrao; Javi Garcia, Salvio, Martins (Airton), Gaitan; Saviola (Jardel), Cardozo (Jara).

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Labels: Benfica, derby, Eagles, Gaitan, Goalcom, Salvio, secure, Sporting, victory

* South American duo give Benfica victory

* Ajax thrash Anderlecht, Twente beat Rubin

* Leverkusen overwhelm Metalist Kharkiv

By Brian Homewood

BERNE, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Benfica scored twice in the final 20 minutes to beat visitors VfB Stuttgart 2-1 in their Europa League last 32 tie on Thursday while Dutch sides Ajax Amsterdam and Twente Enschede enjoyed impressive away wins.

Ajax won 3-0 at Anderlecht in their first leg while Twente were among several teams who endured freezing conditions in eastern Europe, beating Rubin Kazan 2-0 in Moscow where the temperature hovered around minus 15 Celsius during the game.

Stuttgart’s impressive European form has been in marked contrast to their shaky Bundesliga performances this season and Martin Harnik gave them a first-half lead in Lisbon.

But Benfica hit back as Paraguay striker Oscar Cardozo, one of eight South Americans in their starting lineup, levelled in the 70th minute and Argentine Franco Jara grabbed the winner with nine minutes left.

Ajax made light of Luis Suarez’s absence—the Uruguay forward having been sold to Liverpool in the January transfer window—as Tony Alderweireld, Christian Eriksen and Mounir El Hamdaoui shared the goals at Anderlecht.

Late strikes from Twente’s Luuk de Jong, standing in for injured forward Marc Janko, and captain Peter Wisgerhof gave the Dutch side their win in Russia.

Bayer Leverkusen also had to contend with bitter conditions in Ukraine as they thumped Metalist Kharkiv 4-0.

Eren Derdiyok and Gonzalo Castro scored either side of halftime before Sidney Sam got two more for the Bundesliga side.

Metalist’s compatriots Dynamo Kiev enjoyed contrasting fortune as they won 4-1 at Besiktas with former AC Milan and Chelsea striker Andriy Shevchenko among the scorers.

(Editing by Ken Ferris; To comment on this story: sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

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Labels: Benfica, Dutch, Reuters, snatch, victory