Mourinho: We deserved to be punished for this defeat
LONDON: Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho blamed a mystifying loss of focus and confidence among his players for their shock elimination from the Champions League quarterfinals by 10-man Paris St Germain on Wednesday.
“We deserved to be punished with this draw-defeat,” Mourinho told reporters after the 2-2 draw at Stamford Bridge which produced a 3-3 aggregate score over the two legs and saw PSG go through on away goals.
Mourinho said the red card shown in the 31st minute to PSG’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic had hindered rather than helped his team. “For me, the players felt too much the responsibility, especially when the opponent was with 10,” he said.
“When you concede two goals in two corners, it’s even ... more evidence about what I am saying. It’s about lack of concentration, it’s about lack of responsibility to cope with the marker and the space you have to control.”
Former Chelsea defender David Luiz saved PSG when he scored with a thunderous header from a corner in the 86th minute and forced the game into extra time after Gary Cahill had put the hosts ahead in the 81st minute.
Luiz’s central defensive partner and PSG skipper Thiago Silva scored the decisive goal, again with a header from a corner, in the 114th minute.
Mourinho said he wanted to reflect on the game before sitting down with his players. “I want to know,” he said when asked to explain the uncharacteristically limp performance of his side. Mourinho said the Premier League leaders needed to quickly re-focus on Sunday’s game against Southampton.
“We need to react,” he said. “We lost a competition where even if you win today, you would have other important steps in front of you and other big teams to beat.
“We lost that competition and at the moment we have the Premier League to win.” – Reuters 16.5-3-55-4 (3nb), Peterson 19-5-48-0, Van Zyl 61-21-1 (1nb).
Stumps on Day 1 Knights v Lions, Bloemfontein KNIGHTS 1ST INNINGS G Cloete c †Tsolekile b Morris ................................6 R Hendricks c Tsolekile b Viljoen ........................39 T Bodibe c†Tsolekile b Viljoen ................................5 R Second c van der Dussen b Pretorius ........... 14 P Botha c Cook b Pretorius..................................28 A Pienaar lbw b Morris .........................................41 W Coetsee not out.................................................65 S van Schalkwyk b Rabada...................................12 M Siboto c †Tsolekile b Leie .................................21 D Olivier lbw b Leie .................................................0 Q Friend c †Tsolekile b Morris .............................. 4 Extras (11lb, 2w)...................................................13 Total (all out; 82.4 overs)...................................248 Bowling: Morris 18.4-4-40-3(1w), Rabada 19-643-1 (1w), Viljoen 17-5-57-2, Pretorius 15-6-33-2, Leie 13-1-64-2.
Stumps on day 1. Titans v Dolphins, Centurion TITANS 1ST INNINGS TB de Bruyn c †M van Wyk b Pillans ...................52 D Elgar b Pillans.......................................................0 H Davids c Smit b Dupavillon...............................79 G van Buuren lbw b Dupavillon............................34 R van der Merwe c †M van Wyk b Dupavillon.......0 Q Adams c Smit b Maharaj...................................24 D Wiese c Smit b Maharaj ......................................3 M Mosehle† c Dupavillon b Pillans.......................41 M de Lange lbw b Maharaj .................................... 6 R Richards b Smit ....................................................4 N Mbhalati not out.................................................. 0 Extras (8b, 13lb, 2w, 1nb) ....................................24 Total (all out; 84.1 overs)...................................267 Bowling: Dupavillon 19-4-67-3 (1nb, 1w), Pillans 21.1-4-80-3, Savage 10-0-40-0 (1w), Maharaj 2810-51-3, Smit 6-2-8-1. DOLPHINS 1ST INNINGS: 50/0* (D van Wyk 17, I Khan 32).
Stumps on day 1. Dolphins trail by 216 runs with 10 wickets in the first innings.
Golf
SUNSHINE TOUR Tshwane Open First round (RSA unless stated): 63–Morten Orum Madsen (Den), David Horsey
(Eng) 64–Wallie Coetsee, Brett Rumford (Aus) 65 Raphael Jacquelin (Fra), Dean Burmester,
Keith Horne, Merrick Bremner 66–Chris Swanepoel, Oliver Bekker, Trevor
Fisher Jnr, Justin Walters, Ockie Strydom