Champions League – Chelsea 6-0 Maribor
Coach Jose Mourinho reacts:
‘I told the players before the game that the best way to respect opponents who, in theory, are not as good as you are, and don’t have the same potential as you, is to play at your maximum level,’ explained the Portuguese.
‘It’s not to play a second team, or play with a lack of concentration, it’s to play the best possible way. From the first minute until the last we tried to play well. Defensively we respected our opponents; we know their strikers are good players, the wingers are dangerous, so they deserve our respect.
‘Because we respected them so much we managed to produce a solid performance in both ways, with the ball and without it.
‘We have seven points, we are very happy and top of the group. We played very well.’
On Drogba, who replaced Remy injured after 15 mins
‘I was not expecting him to play 75 minutes, we spoke yesterday about him playing 30. Circumstances meant he had to come on and the game went in a direction where he could manage the intensity and manage his movements. It was very important for Didier because the best thing for a player to improve his condition is to play.
‘Strikers like to score goals; he wasn’t on the pitch for long in previous matches, he only started against Schalke.
‘His last goal for Chelsea was the most important in the history of this club, so to be back at Stamford Bridge and score again was very good for him.’
‘We are playing well, we are confident, we are solid and we’ve found a good balance. We now have players who have adapted to play the game we were preparing last year, but we couldn’t manage to do it in a perfect way.
‘Good results and confidence bring the best out of people. They are enjoying themselves. Tonight is a good example: with it being 3-0 at half-time there are many occasions when you stop and control the game, you are happy with the points. But, they kept playing their game and trying to score, they are in a good moment.’
‘We haven’t even qualified for the next phase. Our first objective is to qualify, our second objective is to finish top of the group. We’ll go step by step.’
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