Chelsea have been left with an uphill task to make the semi finals of the Champions League after a 3-1 defeat by PSG. Manager Jose Mourinho blasted his usually reliable defenders after the game for, “joke defending”.
Ezequiel Lavezzi fired home just three minutes in to the game to put the hosts ahead. Brazilian playmaker Oscar won a penalty for his side after being fouled in the area, which Eden Hazard confidently swept home midway through the first period.
David Luiz restored the hosts’ lead with an hour gone as he bundled the ball in to his own goal, before Javier Pastore fired home in added time, beating Petr Cech after a mazy run through the Blues penalty box.
Before the game Mourinho sent out a warning to his strikers, by leaving them all out of the starting 11. German winger Andre Schurrle started up front with Willian, Hazard and Oscar in support in the regular 4-2-3-1 formation.
But, it was the Chelsea defending that let Mourinho down as a PSG winger put the hosts ahead early on. John Terry misplaced a headed clearance with just three minutes gone, sending it straight in to the path of Lavezzi, and the Argentine volleyed it past Cech and in to the top left hand corner.
With the half hour mark approaching Oscar drew a clumsy foul from his international team mate Thiago Silva and the referee pointed to the spot. Hazard stepped up and coolly dispatched the penalty, a goal which his fine overall performance deserved.
The teams were level going in to the second half, but PSG’s attacking talents were troubling the Chelsea back four from the start of the second half, and they got their reward after 61 minutes. Luiz gave away a free kick wide on the left, and Lavezzi’s wicked cross was turned in to his own goal by the Brazilian.
Pastore gave his side a two goal lead late in the game, when he jinked through the box beating Chelsea defenders with ease before seeing his low shot fly past Petr Cech.
Mourinho didn’t hold back after the game, calling out his defenders for their poor showing. “The third was not a goal, it’s a joke. Gary Cahill says ‘sloppy’. I say ‘ridiculous’,” said the Portuguese boss.
“We played against a great team with fantastic attacking players and you would expect them to score fantastic goals, not the goals they scored. We assisted the striker for the first goal. For the second goal, the way the team was positioned defensively was not right. The third was ridiculous.”
A clearly unhappy Mourinho then explained his team selection, after he left both of his available strikers out of the starting line up. “I’m not happy with my strikers, I have to try things. With Andre, at least I know we have one more player to have the ball, we have one more player to associate with the other players.
“Football is also about scoring goals. That is for strikers, for real strikers. I had to try.” Try as they might, the fact remains the Pensioners now have a huge task ahead of them at the Bridge next week.
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