Chelsea cruised to an easy 4-0 Champions League victory over 10-man Maccabi Tel Aviv in Haifa on Tuesday to close in on the last 16.
Advertisement
There was plenty for Mourinho to ponder after a bust up with Costa at half-time.
Costa, who ended a six-game run without scoring against Norwich on Saturday, completed 90 minutes in Israel. I was disappointed. I reacted and he reacted too.
Mauricio Pochettino’s men sit top of Group J and could secure automatic progression to the knockout stage with a victory.
“I was saying before, such a attractive stadium, such a fantastic public”, said the Chelsea boss.
‘For John to leave the pitch with the score at 1-0, I know already that he’s in trouble. With the draw I don’t know.
“I think, first and foremost, we needed the result for the group to take it into that last game but we need confidence and we need momentum and it gets us going in the right direction”. “But I think to leave the pitch with the result 1-0, I don’t believe too much that he can play [against Spurs]”.
A scrappy feel to the second half was not to Chelsea’s advantage before Willian netted his latest brilliant free-kick in the 73rd minute.
“Oscar’s goal, for me, was the one I was happy with because, finally, we had someone in the box attacking a good delivery”.
He added: “We knew at half-time they [Kiev] were leading [Porto] so it meant it was even more important for us [to win]”.
Jose Mourinho insists he never feared for his job during Chelsea ‘s disastrous start to the season.
Spurs will provide a major test, with Mauricio Pochettino labelling the noon kick-off time, so soon after his side’s Europa League match in Azerbaijan, a “joke”. A lot has been said about the current Premier League Champions who are having a disastrous season.
Advertisement
Maccabi coach Slavisa Jokanovic said the sending off made it impossible for his players to overcome technically superior opposition. Only that stopped us playing better and cost us more goals.
