Forget Barcelona. Chelsea’s most important game is the next one – at home to Wigan this weekend. And the most important one after that is the visit to noisy neighbours Fulham on Easter Monday.

Roberto Di Matteo, a late contender for top-flight manager of the season, knows he has to keep Chelsea’s feet on the ground after the 2-1 defeat of Benfica at the Bridge on Wednesday night which set up the mouth-watering two-leg tie against Barca.

It was a typically tense European night in SW6, and while it wasn’t a patch on the thriller last month at home to Napoli, it was still very watchable.

The two people who dominated the evening were the Slovenian referee Damir Skomina – by day an estate agent, by night a card-happy stickler – and the Benfica coach Jorge Jesus, a clever tactician who almost outwitted Di Matteo, despite having just 10 men on the pitch.

Skomina made a bright start, allowing the game to flow well for the first quarter of an hour, before a blizzard of yellows (four for Benfica in eight minutes) changed everything.

Frank Lampard scored from the spot after Ashley Cole was bundled over, then Benfica captain Maxi Pereira was sent off for a second caution.

It set the stage for an interesting second half, and tension grew as the Portuguese coach – a younger, slimmer Engelbert Humperdinck lookalike – became more irritated with the ref. Aptly for Easter, Jesus was cross.

When Benfica levelled with six minutes remaining, it got frantic. Another away goal for the Portuguese would have turned the tie, but ex-Porto star Raul Meireles silenced Benfica’s boos with a stoppage-time rocket.

Captain John Terry picked up a rib injury which makes him doubtful for the Wigan league game on Saturday, but the Blues stride on towards the fixtures that fans can’t stop thinking about.

Chelsea are at home to Barca on April 18, then away in Spain on April 24. Wigan just hasn’t got the same romance.