Goalkeeper admits Chelsea have made matters complex for themselves after losing 0-1 to Basel
Goalkeeper Petr Cech admits Chelsea have made their lives more complicated by succumbing to Basel for a second time in Champions League Group E.
Chelsea players after their loss against FC Basel at St Jakob-Park. Pic/Getty Images
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Blues boss Jose Mourinho had targeted a win in Switzerland to render the result in next month’s final group match with Steaua Bucharest meaningless, but now his side must win to be certain of top spot in the standings.
Cech’s performance in goal was the one bright aspect of a second defeat to Basel as Chelsea, who failed to muster a meaningful effort on goal, stumbled to qualification for the Last 16 only as a result of Schalke’s draw in Romania.
“We could’ve made it clear,” Cech told Chelsea TV. “(But) we’ve made it a bit more complicated for ourselves. We qualified, that’s the main thing. One more game, we want to make sure we win the game and be top.
“We didn’t play the way we wanted, we didn’t get the result we wanted — but at the same time we got the result we wanted.u00a0“We wanted to come home from Basle with the qualification in our pocket; we are going home with the qualification, but we want to finish first.”
Cech pulled off a string of fine saves before he was beaten by Mohamed Salah’s 87th-minute goal in a lacklustre performance coach Jose Mourinho attributed to tiredness.
“We didn’t start particularly well and their confidence grew,” Cech added.u00a0“In the Champions League when you give your opponent hope they can cause you a lot of problems. In the first minute we gave them hope. It became very difficult.
In the second half we improved, there were situations when we could have scored but it was the last touch that was missing, and a few times in good positions somebody lost their footing or things like that.
“The only positive thing is we qualified. Sometimes you have to have 10 points to go through and sometimes nine points make you qualified.”
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