Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho again had reason to be critical of his players after their 1-1 draw against Maribor.
Mourinho criticised the team after Saturday’s derby win against QPR and was far from happy with their first-half display in Slovenia, where a win would have sealed their place in the knockout stage of the Champions League with two games to spare.
He made a double substitution at half-time, introducing Diego Costa and Oscar, and the team needed that extra attacking impetus to hit back after Agim Ibraimi’s fine goal.
Nemanja Matic hauled them level and Eden Hazard missed an 85th-minute penalty for Mourinho’s side.
“In the first half we didn’t play well. I was not happy with the team or the performance,” Mourinho said.
“I changed at half-time with the conviction that the team was going to improve. I was proved right, but Maribor scored, their belief was higher and our players starting feeling the pressure.
“When a player plays as well as Eden Hazard, he can miss a penalty and still be the best player in my team. We paid the price of a not good first half and their goalkeeper was fantastic.
“Many times surprises happen when people are not fully focused, when they believe the game can’t be a difficult one.
“Only when Maribor scored did the players realise the game was in danger. After that, a fantastic reaction. We deserved to win, clearly.”
The former Inter Milan boss was also unhappy with some of the refereeing decisions by Italian official Daniele Orsato.
Chelsea had a goal by Costa disallowed and felt they should have been awarded a second-half penalty for what looked like a foul on Oscar.
“This referee I have a long story from my Italian times, but I don’t want to go in that direction,” Mourinho said.
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This post was last modified on 06/11/2014