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Wednesday, 23 October 2013
Mourinho maintains faith in Torres
Jose Mourinho was thrilled to see Fernando
Torres repay his faith as the striker netted
twice in a 3-0 Champions League victory at
Schalke which took Chelsea top of Group E.
Torres was preferred to Samuel Eto'o to
make his 100th Chelsea start and netted his
38th and 39th goals for the Blues following
his £50million move from Liverpool before
Eden Hazard added a late third.
The World Cup-winning striker has been
much-maligned, mainly due to his hefty
price tag, but Mourinho has belief in the
ability of the Spaniard and was pleased to
see his selection justified.
"What boosts him is the confidence he
knows I have in him," Mourinho said.
"Samuel played a very good game against
Cardiff and scored the winning goal.
"I thought Fernando was adapted to this
game. I put faith in him and he answered
well.
"It's good for him, it's a good feeling to
score goals, winning goals in the
Champions League."
After beginning the Champions League
campaign with a surprise home loss to
Basle, Chelsea now lead the pool following
wins away to Steaua Bucharest and Schalke
ahead of the return match with the
Germans at Stamford Bridge on November
6.
Mourinho added: "After the first game we
were last, because we lost at home, and
now we are top of the group.
"Because of my experience I was not in hell
after the first game and I'm not in heaven
today. I'm calm.
"I know we have two matches at home (to
come) and I know normally we are going to
get enough points to qualify.
"In this moment, after six points, we can
think first about qualifying, but after that,
maybe, we can also think about finishing
first in the group. That is what we are
going to try (to do).
"We were under pressure after the first
game, after the second game we found a
balance and today, after this victory, we are
in a good situation."
It was Mourinho's first Champions League
win against a German team in Germany,
although Gelsenkirchen was the neutral
venue when he guided Porto to victory
over Monaco in the 2004 final.
He added: "I knew that if somebody asked
me, (they) only ask about half of the
record.
"The record is always defeat in Germany,
and I never lost at home against a German
team."
Chelsea were playing on German turf for
the first time since winning the 2012
European Cup in Munich and, like on that
occasion, for large parts of the game had to
absorb the pressure applied by their
opponents.
After Torres' headed opener in the fifth
minute, he completed a stunning counter-
attack featuring Hazard and Oscar for the
second before the Belgium forward's half-
field dart and neat finish completed victory.
Mourinho was particularly happy with the
performance of goalkeeper Petr Cech ,
defenders Branislav Ivanovic, Gary Cahill ,
John Terry and Cesar Azpilicueta and
defensive midfielders Ramires and Frank
Lampard.
"Everything started with the way we
defended," Mourinho added.
"My goalkeeper, my four defenders and
Rami and Lampard, they gave us fantastic
stability.
"We had a difficult period in the first half,
which a team always has, and in that
period, the last 10, 15 minutes of the first
half Schalke were really dominant.
"After that we were compact, we were
solid. We controlled the game, we were
always dangerous. My team deserved the
points."
Schalke head coach Jens Keller was
frustrated by the margin of victory.
"I don't think we lost that badly," Keller
said.
"The early goal irritated me; we conceded a
goal after just five minutes.
"After that the team tried everything, we
had three or four chances and if you don't
score against a team like Chelsea, things
just aren't going to work out.
"Three-nil is a high result, but I don't think
that's quite fair for a match that we saw."
Despite the loss, Keller believes Schalke,
who won their opening two games, are
well-placed in a group which also includes
Basle and Steaua, who drew in Romania.
"We've got six points, the other game was a
draw," Keller added.
"Right from the start we said Chelsea were
the clear favourites, so we had to battle it
out with the other two teams.
"This result is a little bit annoying because
we could've got a draw out of it."
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