Chelsea, which has endured a miserable season in the Premier League, claimed a 2-0 win over Porto at Stamford Bridge to finish top of Group G.
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Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho insists his side will relish their underdog status in the Champions League after they secured a place in the knock-out stages with victory over Porto last night.
Despite retaining the loyal support of the Chelsea fans, who chanted his name throughout Wednesday’s game, Mourinho’s position at Stamford Bridge has come under intense pressure after his side lost eight of their first 15 English league games this season. But Porto were well below par and Chelsea could have scored four or five, with the only downer for the Blues coming in the shape of Nemanja Matic’s first half booking, which will rule him out of Chelsea’s last-16 first leg.
‘He could have scored two or three goals today.
Costa’s header found Hazard 20 yards from goal and he slipped a precise pass towards Willian, who drilled a superb first-time strike that beat Casillas at his near post. We are not lucky in the Premier League. It was a good move and a good save from Iker Casillas but we had luck with the rebound.
I am very happy the players accepted the challenge to play to win even when we only needed a draw, whic is not easy when confidence is not high.
Defeat and an embarrassing drop into the Europa League might have meant the sack for Mourinho, but now he is optimistic of a season which has flirted with failure finishing with a flourish.
Now Ranieri is set to face Mourinho as manager of the league leaders while Chelsea have so far mounted the worst ever defence of a Premier League title.
Roma’s 0-0 draw against BATE Borisov was just enough to allow the Italian club to edge Bayer Leverkusen for second place in its group.
To win the Champions League I think it is obvious that a team struggling so much like we are we are not obviously a candidate to win the Champions League.
Chelsea: Courtois; Ivanovic, Zouma, Terry (c), Azpilicueta; Ramires, Matic; Willian, Oscar, Hazard; Diego Costa.
However, he impressed the Chelsea manager on his recall against Porto, helping create both goals but missing some goalscoring chances.
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Gent’s Danijel Milicievic, right, jubilates after scoring a goal during the Champions League Group H soccer match between Gent and FC Zenit at the Ghelamco Arena in Ghent, Belgium, Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2015. The Blues have improved on defense, having only conceded one goal in their last four games, but the only time that they have beat a “good” team this year was when Arsenal collapsed and Chelsea capitalized.
