Chelsea clinched their place in the last 16 of the Champions League with the minimum of fuss on Wednesday, seeing off Jose Mourinho’s former club Porto 2-0 at Stamford Bridge.
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Winning this season’s Champions League is Chelsea’s best way back into the tournament next term, according to Jose Mourinho.
“They didn’t want to go to the Europa League”, Mourinho said, as his team avoided the fate of United, forced to settle for the consolation of dropping into the secondary continental competition after defeat at Wolfsburg on Tuesday.
Valencia, with Gary Neville in the coaching hot-seat for the first time, were unable to make it four Spanish teams going through when they lost 2-0 at home to Lyon in Group H.
“The thing I am happy with, apart from the result, is that we only needed one point to qualify but the players accepted the challenge of playing to win”, Mourinho said.
“In the second half he faced the keeper on his own”.
It was the Spain striker’s shot from Eden Hazard’s through ball that was blocked by Casillas and then cannoned off Marcano into his own net.
The goal was the fifth own goal Chelsea have benefited from in all competitions this season, allowing the Blues to control the game and pull the strings from a position of real superiority in the match.
Willian, who has been a shining light in a season of darkness for Chelsea this season, smashed home the clincher in the second half to wrap up the points.
Mourinho’s team were showing flashes of their scintillating form from the previous season, and it nearly led to a second goal just before the half-hour mark. A stinging shot from Willian went straight at Casillas.
“In the league, we have been lacking a bit of confidence”.
But the darker side of Costa was soon evident when he cynically stuck a leg out to trip Casillas and he was booked. “But his attitude was very good and his movement was much better”. Win or draw and Chelsea advances to the round of 16.
Laurent Depoitre and Danijel Milicevic netted for Gent either side of a strike by the prolific Artem Dzyuba as the Buffalos became the first Belgian club to reach the knockout stages of the Champions League.
Porto rallied, with Yacine Brahimi seeing a curling shot headed away from goal by Branislav Ivanovic, but Chelsea should really have added to their advantage before the final whistle as Costa failed to cap what was otherwise a good night.
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Rather than Chelsea killing off the game, Costa didn’t come close to scoring again until the stroke of halftime when he sliced the ball across the face of goal.
