The Blues boss says his side were impressive in the final 30
minutes of the 1-1 Champions League draw with Maribor, but
paid the price for a disappointing first-half showing
Jose Mourinho admits he was not happy with Chelsea's first-
half performance in their 1-1 draw with Maribor.
The Blues would have qualified for the Champions League last
16 had they won in Slovenia, but must now wait until match
day five at the earliest when they play Schalke in Germany.
Eden Hazard missed a late penalty and Diego Costa had a
goal wrongly ruled out for offside, but Mourinho says the poor
performance in the first half ultimately proved costly.
"In the first half we didn’t play well," he told Sky Sports . "After
their goal we played very well and normally we should win
the game, but when you don’t play well for 90 minutes you
risk, and in the last 30 minutes when we played really well,
intense, and creative and with a big desire to win and had
many chances to do it their goalkeeper was magnificent."
Mourinho brought on Costa and Oscar at half-time and
believes his decision to change the make-up of his team was
vindicated.
"I was not happy with the team and I was not happy with the
performance, I changed at half-time with the conviction that
the team was going to improve and I was proven right.
"They scored and their belief was high and the pressure on
our team…the players start feeling it a little bit but as I say we
created a lot of chances and the goalkeeper was really really
good."
The Portuguese was also delighted with Hazard, who was
foiled by keeper Jasmin Handanovic in a one-on-one situation
before seeing his spot-kick saved.
"When a player plays as well as Eden Hazard did, for me he
was absolutely fantastic, by far the best player of my team. A
player with a performance like this can miss a penalty and
can still be the best player on my team. We paid the price for
a not good first half, and their goalkeeper was fantastic."
Replays showed that Costa's disallowed goal should have
stood as Cesc Fabregas was level with the last defender, but
Mourinho would not be drawn on referee Daniele Orsato,
though he did hint at his unhappiness.
"I think we deserve to win but with this referee I have a long
story from my Italian times but I don’t want to go in that
direction. It’s also important to praise a team with a different
power than we have, they gave everything and played very
well for their point.