Rafa Benitez could not be happier with the end result of the Europa League final between Benfica and Chelsea, with the Blues' interim manager finally left with something to show for his efforts over what has been an otherwise difficult season for the Spaniard, while also expressing his pleasure at the imporvement shown by Fernando Torres.
Branislav Ivanovic was the hero for Chelsea, scoring a fine header in the third minute of stoppage time, after Oscar Cardozo had cancelled out Torres' opening strike in the showpiece final at the Amsterdam Arena.
Benfica were the much better side, particularly in the first half, but could not find the opening goal, which eventually proved to be their undoing, because there is no better team than Chelsea to come away with victory with their backs to the wall.
"It's a special night for everyone involved," Benitez said. "When you play a final and win, you are always happy. That said, I have been doing this job for six, seven months, and it didn't really matter whether we won or not.
"We'd already done our job, we do it day in, day out. Benfica have too. They are a great team and that's one of the reasons why we weren't as strong as we have been tonight.
"Secondly, we're 69 games into our season and thirdly, we had to change our approach a little as we knew Benfica would play high up the pitch. We wanted to capitalise on that."
The game seemed to be headed into extra time when Ivanovic popped up with the winner to send the Chelsea crowd wild, and Benitez, who has not been a popular appointment amongst the fans, was happy to see his side weather the storm and eventually come away with the title that they were all craving for.
"My success? It depends on your perceptions," Benitez added. "When you put it all together, what we've managed in terms of keeping the squad together and coping with injuries, I think we've done well.
"You have to win for people to realise what you're trying to do. We won, so hopefully everyone now knows."
One of the main reasons for Benitez's appointment as interim Chelsea manager was to get the best out of Fernando Torres. Well, the striker again had a great outing in the Europa League, scoring a wonderful opening goal.
"I'm really pleased for Fernando Torres," Benitez, who coached Torres at Liverpool, said. "Some people think he was one of the reasons I was appointed and he's been working hard on his fitness and with the technical staff.
"I'm really happy he scored. I'm really happy we won. Benfica are a very good team. They are dangerous from set pieces, have a good manager and good players. They know what they're doing and it makes our victory so much sweeter that we had to overcome a team that good."
