On the player handed his first start and asked to play the No. 10 position…
‘It was a great debut for Oscar,’ said Di Matteo. ‘It was the right moment for him to start the game, we needed a bit of time to work with him and he was perfect tonight with the tactical information we gave him. The second goal was a wonderful goal and it is great to see we have a player like that in our ranks.
‘He is a big talent and he has a bit of everything. We shouldn’t forget he is still a young man but he is quite established and he broke through to the Brazil team and that is quite difficult.’
On the Oscar substitution and the absence of Daniel Sturridge from the players named for the game…
‘It was a bad tackle and Oscar had to come off. He got a knock on his ankle and we will have to assess him tomorrow.
‘In the last training session yesterday Sturridge felt his hamstring tightening up so he wasn’t available for today. He won’t be out for long.’
Letting a two-goal lead slip…
‘Of course we feel disappointed and a little bit deflated that we found ourselves in a fantastic position to win this game and we came away only with a draw,’ said the Chelsea manager.
‘It was a good game of football and we played against a good team and they are always dangerous. They have a lot of quality but we feel disappointed because we should have closed the game.
‘For their second goal we should have dealt with it a little better. There was no pressure on the ball and it was probably difficult to play offside, and we lost possession just beforehand and we should have reacted much quicker to losing the ball.
‘In football unfortunately you give the ball away. That is how it is, and it is something you try to improve all the time, to be composed and keep possession better. During the game we did give the ball away a little bit too cheaply at times but we also played some good stuff.’
On nothing given for a second-half challenge on Eden Hazard inside the area…
‘It was a penalty. He got pushed and there was contact as well and it was the second game in a row that the referee seemed to not see it.’
