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A dejected Mourinho watches on from the sideline. EMPICS Sport
Criticism

Mourinho bemoans conceding 'joke' goal and lack of 'real strikers'

Chelsea’s manager pointed the finger at his defence and misfiring frontline in the wake of their defeat to Paris Saint-Germain.

CHELSEA MANAGER JOSE Mourinho criticised his team’s sloppy defending and lack of a cutting edge from his strikers after they went down 3-1 to Paris Saint-Germain in their Champions League quarter-final, first leg last night.

The Premier League side recovered from the loss of an early Ezequiel Lavezzi goal to equalise courtesy of an Eden Hazard penalty just before the half-hour mark and the Belgian also struck the post before half-time.

However, PSG seized the initiative again in the second period and a David Luiz own goal put them back in front before Javier Pastore’s stoppage-time effort handed the Ligue 1 leaders a potentially decisive two-goal advantage heading into next Tuesday’s return at Stamford Bridge.

“I think by the strategical point of view the team had great discipline, and the most difficult things to do in the game they did very well,” said Mourinho, who is looking to become the first coach to win the European Cup with three different clubs following previous triumphs with Porto and Inter Milan.

“They stopped (Zlatan) Ibrahimovic. (Edinson) Cavani was under control. The positional play from (Thiago) Motta and (Marco) Verratti in the centre of the pitch was completely under control.

“But we couldn’t transform the half-chances that we created into goals and on top of that we made defensive mistakes, individidual defensive mistakes. So we paid the price.”

The Portuguese also confirmed that his decision to select winger Andre Schuerrle in attack rather than Fernando Torres in the absence of the injured Samuel Eto’o reflected a lack of confidence in his misfiring strikers.

I’m not happy with my strikers’ performances, so I have to try things, and with Andre at least we know we have one more player to associate with the other players.

“But football is not just about that. It’s about scoring goals and getting in behind. And that is for strikers, real strikers.”

The opening goal came from a poor defensive header by Chelsea captain John Terry while David Luiz gave away the free-kick which led to his own goal and goalkeeper Petr Cech was beaten at his near post for Pastore’s third.

“In the first goal the ball goes to Lavezzi – control, half-volley, boom. It’s like this at this level – one chance, one goal,” admitted Mourinho.

“The game was under control and we had the chance to go 2-1 up at the end of the first half. But we didn’t score and then after that we scored in our own goal and after that the third goal, it was a joke. It was not a goal it was a joke.”

 © AFP 2014

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