Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic admits that his side were punished for a loss of concentration during their 2-1 Champions League defeat to PSG.
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Mikel quickly redeemed himself when the midfielder came up with a rare goal to claim a vital away goal for the Blues, but substitute Cavani scored late on to claim a first leg win for PSG.
It was then Ibrahimovic’s chance to head his side into the lead, but the PSG striker made a mess of his effort from Angel di Maria’s cross as he nodded it into the ground and over the bar.
Neither team really ever got going in Portugal and it looked destined to finish goalless until Jonas popped up with his 25th goal of the season, shortly after Zenit left-back Domenico Criscito was sent off for a second yellow card. “Chelsea was said to be in great trouble, they are regaining their colour”, he told beIN Sports.
Despite the loss – Guus Hiddink’s first since replacing Jose Mourinho as interim manager – Chelsea has to like its situation at halftime of the two-legged tie.
But John Mikel Obi scored a precious away goal, capitalising on some bad defending to sweep home a deserved leveller from six yards. Champions League is back and we had many talents on the pitch who played their best.
“We could have been a little bit more lethal in the four, five counters we made”, he added.
“When you play at home you need to be stronger in defence because, if you concede a goal, it effectively counts double”, he said.
“The players did well, not just the four in defence”.
“It’s 50-50 still. Okay, we start again and if you take the emotion out a bit and analyse the game well, and our opponents were a very good and strong team, I say 50-50”. With top strikers like PSG have, they take every single chance. We have good feelings. “PSG have a nose for creating danger and know where you are most weak”.
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“There are some weeks to prepare for it and I hope everyone is on board for the second leg”. From a footballing point of view, I am very happy with my team’s performance, which wasn’t necessarily the case in recent matches.
