Jose Mourinho is back at Stamford Bridge this week, and if there’s one thing guaranteed, it’s that The Special One knows how to steal a spotlight.
His Benfica side arrive in London on the back of a 2-1 weekend win, but the bigger story is the timing.
Mourinho’s return for Tuesday’s Champions League encounter coincides with Chelsea wobble under Enzo Maresca - and the sense around the club that the Italian is under some scrutiny.
Chelsea have managed just one win in their last five games - a narrow escape against League One Lincoln City - while defeats to Bayern Munich, Manchester United and Brighton have left bruises.
The Brighton setback in particular turned the volume up around Maresca’s position, with whispers that a meeting involving co-owner Behdad Eghbali, sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart, plus recruitment specialists Joe Shields and Sam Jewell, followed soon after.
Maresca’s job is safe for now and will be judged properly only at season’s end. But sources suggest the manager himself is not entirely content.
From the summer outset, he pushed for reinforcements in two key areas - goalkeeper and central defence. Those very positions have already stung him, with Robert Sanchez and Trevoh Chalobah both seeing red in critical defeats.
Results have brought their flaws into focus, and the club’s top bosses know his stance on signings, but the frustration lingers.
That makes Mourinho’s return all the more dangerous.
The man who built his legend on defying odds would relish nothing more than reminding Chelsea of his enduring powers by deepening their current troubles.
A Benfica win at the Bridge would not just be a narrative-friendly upset; it would sharpen the spotlight on Chelsea’s rebuild at a pivotal moment.
For the Blues, this week is about restoring calm.
Champions League qualification for next season remains a non-negotiable target - but the hierarchy wants stability around the dugout to ensure they get there. And in the meantime, they also need to compete in this year’s version of the Champions League.
The message from inside their Cobham training base is that Maresca will be backed - with January expected to bring serious movement for a new goalkeeper and a high-level central defender.
But the optics matter. Losing to Mourinho, the man Chelsea fans once adored, would sting badly.
And while nobody at the club is talking about managerial changes just yet, the Italian coach knows he must show signs that the project is building momentum.
Mourinho has made a career of proving people wrong. Maresca, right now, just needs people to believe in him.
