Chelsea finally reaches to the knock out stage in Champions league, but are they happy with their show, no absolutely not, at least manager Jose Mourinho thinks so. Their qualification was subject to their draw over Romanian football club Steaua Bucharest otherwise their recent 1-0 defeat from Basel had almost led them down. Another blow for The Blue was a groin injury to their 32-year-old in-form forward Samuel Eto’o who had to leave the ground on stretcher. Mourinho accepted their bad form and how devastatingly they performed in the last match; only a defeat could be a reward for this. He said, “A bad performance, a deserved defeat but because of other results, we qualify. That is the only positive thing from this night. I did not like anything from the first minute. We started with a defensive mistake.” As far Eto’o injury is concerned, his further scans will determine how severe his injury is and how much time he would be needed to fully recover off it. Anyways, no matter how they did it, Stamford Bridge side is now in the second stage of Champion league which is much better than their last season’s show where they were ousted in the first stage itself.
Eto’o absence could be fatal for north London club as he has been a performing player this season. Factually, he netted two goals out of five Champions league games played this season along with four more in Premier League and Premier Liga. Mourinho added about him, “We have to wait about Samuel Eto’o. With these hard pitches because of the weather it is something that can happen.”
The surprising defeat is also strange for Chelsea fans coz this is the same team that crushed West Ham by 3-0 just few days ago; hence their performance in the next few matches needs to be an improved show to win the confidence back again. Mourinho added, “The team only had a bit of stability and control in the second half. I felt the team was tired. They paid the price of the international break and a crucial match against West Ham. There was no reaction from the players, and wrong decisions. I am not sad with them, as I understand they were not fresh.
“Maybe I should have made more changes, but after playing so well against West Ham, there was the temptation to play the same team. We should get a better result than this. But I do not blame the players.”