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Rafael Benitez last night told the Chelsea fans the Stamford Bridge old guard have to be replaced by the next generation of heroes.

Blues supporters are up in arms over Frank Lampard's looming departure and the likely exit of Ashley Cole, also out of contract at the end of the season, following on from the loss of Didier Drogba, while John Terry has only 18 months left on his current contract.

But while both Lampard and Cole will play against Swansea tonight in the Capital One Cup semi-final first leg, Benitez spelled out what many SW6 fans will view as an unpalatable truth.

"It's always easy to talk about the legends, and you have to have a lot of respect for them," said Benitez.

"What they've achieved for this club has been fantastic.

"But you have to see new players coming. It's part of life.

"That is the good thing about English football: you have good memories and you respect people who achieve something for a club. That's very positive.

(Image: Clive Rose)

"At the same time, you have to think about the future. You cannot be waiting. You have to move forward, bring in new players and try and at the same time bring the best out of those you have.

"This year you have three or four players, like Eden Hazard, Oscar, Lucas Piazon and Marko Marin. Maybe in the next couple of years we will be talking about these players as fantastic players and then the others who need to come and join them.

"That is part of the evolution of the team. I can see the club is changing things for the future, thinking about being successful again.

"You have to keep winning as much as you can. You can't think 'that's it, we've won now'. You have to keep evolving. That means you have to keep bringing in good new players."

The animosity towards Benitez from a majority of the most committed Chelsea supporters has not abated, with the Spaniard viewed by some as having been brought in by Roman Abramovich to do the "dirty work" and clear the decks for his successor.

(Image: Clive Brunskill)

For Benitez, though, it is simply part of the reality of football life. He added: "If you want to keep winning, to have the winning mentality, you need the new generation pushing you.

"Chelsea are managing this situation because they were successful. Now everybody can see the players who won but you have to see the new players coming and maybe winning in the future.

"I know the club is working really hard to bring the best players, and obviously English players are an important part of any team in England.

"My job in this transitional period is to bring the best from these players, keep winning if we can, challenging for every trophy, and give experience to the new players."

Benitez' blunt assessment of the way forward is unlikely to win him any more friends and neither is the recall of Fernando Torres against Swansea with new signing Demba Ba set to return to the bench.

The Blues boss - boosted by the news that Terry will step up his comeback after two months out by playing in tomorrow night's under-21 game with Fulham - insisted Ba's arrival will not only be good for Chelsea but also for the £50million Torres.

(Image: Clive Rose)

"Ba coming will be better for Torres, 100 per cent," said Benitez. "Not many players play every game in a top side, as he has had to, and now it will be positive for both of them.

"They will be fitter, maybe they will score more goals because they will have more chances and will be in better positions.

"Fernando is an experienced player and he knows football. We have spoken to both of them and they each know the role of the other, that they'll have a lot of games and will have a big part to play.

"Every session I can see Fernando is training well and trying to improve. Even when he's not scoring, he's working hard and doing things for the team.

"We have tried to fix things to improve his strength, a specific programme. If you do that, normally he can be quicker. It takes time, and I think it's improving.

"He's a bit quicker, but the biggest problem was he was playing too many games. Especially against QPR, some players were a bit tired, had too much fatigue. But having both Torres and Ba means both can do well."

Meanwhile Pablo Hernandez has told his team-mates his ex-Valencia team-mate Juan Mata is the man to snuff out tonight.

