Truths: Brilliant Zlatan Ibrahimovic gets English sides on red alert

Zlatan Ibrahimovic loves shutting the English up. Fans in this country have always been somewhat sceptical about the Swede's ability to perform at the highest level, with his greatest success coming in foreign leagues away from the mainstream spotlight. Champions League and World Cups? He's never really done it. Flat track pony, say the critics. It's a charge that, understandably, irritates one of the greatest forwards of his generation. That's why he enjoyed scoring that absurd overhead kick against England so much - and it's why he will have relished grabbing a goal and an assist at Stamford Bridge. What better way to silence the doubters once and for all than to spend a season or two causing havoc in the Premier League? Based on last night-s performance, and even at 34, there will be plenty of takers for the Swede when his contract with PSG expires in the summer.

For the past two years, Chelsea have been able to watch Arsene Wenger’s side make a last-ditch bid to salvage their season by carrying off the FA Cup. Under Jose Mourinho, Chelsea had the luxury of forgetting about the world’s oldest competition. Who needs the old pot when you are finishing in the Premier League top four, winning the title and competing in the latter stages of the Champions League?

As we know, life has not been such a bed of roses for the Chelsea fans this season. Defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the last 16 more or less ended their hopes of qualifying for Europe's elite competition next season. 10th in the table, 10 points behind Manchester City in fourth, they can forget about dining at Europe’s top table next term. Now it is all about damage limitation for last season’s fallen champions. Guus Hiddink won the trophy the last time he was Chelsea interim coach seven years ago. He must try a similar stunt this season. Like Arsenal, any form of silverware would be viewed as a form of gold in this most trying of campaigns.

Costa produced a barnstorming performance last night, and his departure through injury on the hour mark as good as ended Chelsea's chances. Strong, skilful and unrelentingly aggressive, Costa's display was the stuff of defensive nightmares. Goodness only knows what was going on in the first half of the season to make him so insipid and ineffective under Jose Mourinho, but he has since shown he has everything in his armoury to be one of the continent's elite forwards.

The Portuguese champions have won 16 of their last 17 matches, including home-and-away victories over Zenit St St Petersburg in the Champions League last 16. But can they get past the big boys in the last eight? Not going by Tuesday's performance in Russia, despite the 2-1 win at the Petrovsky Stadium.

True, Benfica were missing their goalkeeper Julio Cesar and three first-choice defenders against Andres Villas-Boas' side, but they surely lack the quality to go any further in the competition. They have relied on the goals of Kostas Mitroglou in their recent run, but the Greek striker looks more like the Fulham flop of 2014 than the goal-a-game model of 2016 when he steps up a level from the Primeira Liga to the Champions League knock-out stages.