Mancini: Small edge for Blues
Print Edition
Roberto Mancini rates Chelsea as a narrow favorite to reach the Champions League quarterfinals despite Galatasaray finishing the better side in the first-leg 1-1 draw.
The Turkish side’s manager was relieved his open tactics in the first 25 minutes on Wednesday did not result in more than the one goal his team conceded.
But Galatasaray could have stolen victory after Aurelien Chedjou’s equalizer midway through the second half cancelled out Fernando Torres’s ninth-minute opener.
Mancini felt brave enough to suggest his team could finish the job in London having rated Chelsea’s chances of success at 80 percent before the first leg.
“We should have started more aggressively. During the first 20 minutes we had too much respect for Chelsea and we made four or five mistakes, one of which resulted in the goal, but apart from that we played well.
“Seeing the second half, I think my players saw what we are capable of and we now know we can actually go through. It will be very difficult. I think we have a 40 per cent chance.”
Torres’s early goal was the first scored by an English team in this last-16 round following Manchester City’s 0-2 defeat to Barcelona, Arsenal’s 0-2 loss to Bayern Munich and Manchester United’s 0-2 setback at Olympiakos in other first-leg matches.
That was at least some consolation for Mourinho who was unhappy at his front line’s failure to capitalize. “There are teams that score three goals when they find three chances. We are a team that scores one goal out of five chances.”
But he praised Chelsea’s fighting spirit. “My team, each and every one of them, give everything on the pitch.”
Mourinho also had praise for striker Didier Drogba, whose last action of a highly productive Chelsea career was scoring the penalty that secured the Champions League title in 2012.
“He is one of the best players in the world. When he comes to London he will have the best reception of his life, the reception he deserves as a club legend,” said Mourinho before the second leg on March 18.
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