27th November, 2013
“Everybody, everybody, the goal is ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous. They were sleeping. If they weren’t sleeping, how could that goal go in? When you are tired, you sleep. When you are tired, you think slow. It’s true. When you are tired you react late. We had situations to score but had bad control, no sharpness. When the players are tired, defensive and attacking mistakes can happen, and you concede goals that you never normally concede. But Basle deserved the bonus.”
These were the words of rage coming from Chelsea manager, Jose Mourinho after his Blues team were beaten 0-1 by Swiss team, Basel last night in one of the UEFA Champions League matches.
Mohamed Salah’s solitary strike with three minutes remaining gave the Swiss champions their second win over the London club in this season’s Champions League, although Chelsea still clinched their place in the last 16 thanks to Schalke’s goalless draw with Steaua Bucharest in Romania.
That meant it was job done for Chelsea, who came to Switzerland with the aim of ensuring qualification with a game to spare in Group E, but Mourinho was unable to muster a smile after watching a substandard performance.
“We don’t go through because we got a result, we go through because Schalke did not get a result, and for me it’s not the same,” said the Portuguese.
“In the end, we qualified, which is our first objective, and now we have the last match at home to get the result to finish first,” he added, with Chelsea knowing that a win at home against Steaua on December 11 will guarantee them top spot and secure, in theory, an easier draw in the next round.
Mourinho was quick to praise Murat Yakin’s Basel side for their display – which followed a 2-1 victory in London in September – but he acknowledged that his decision to make just one change to the team after Saturday’s 3-0 win at West Ham was wrong.
“I want to praise Basel. They won because we were sleeping in the last minute. But they won also because they were the best team and deserved to win,” said the former Real Madrid boss, who dropped Eden Hazard for Willian.
To make matters worse, Samuel Eto’o was carried off injured in the first half with a muscle injury. “We’ll have to wait for the scans,” said Mourinho. “Clearly I’ve got signs of fatigue and players who have trouble playing two matches in three days. We paid the price today of the international week.”