Last night, thanks to a competent display, Chelsea earned their first three points of their Champions` League group campaign.
Faced with the minnows of FK Qarabag, Chelsea took full advantage of their opponents` fallibility to register an emphatic win that sets them in good stead for the next match away to Atletico Madrid.
After the game, Antonio Conte spoke about the performance, remarking to the media,
‘To play the first game, then to win with a good result, to score many goals, to finish the game with a clean sheet – I saw a lot of positive things tonight.”
With another five games to play this month, Antonio used this game to make five changes to the side that had beaten Leicester City, on Saturday.
Discussing the changes, Conte added,
‘To play in the Champions League it means the coach trusts you. My message tonight was this: I trust all my players, not with only words, but with facts.
‘If we think like last season to play with only 13 players, we are crazy. We have to improve all these players to try to create a positive competition between them.’
And with regard to our jewel-in-the-crown, Eden Hazard, who made his second appearance from the bench this season, Conte further added,
‘We must have a bit of patience with him and to try to give the possibility for Eden to recover very well.
‘We must be calm and to do the best for the player and for the team. Otherwise we risk a bad injury to delay the situation. This is the right way. This process is good for him.’
As for the FK Qarabag manager, Gurban Gurbanov, he was a little more rueful in his assessment of the game, commenting to the media,
‘The game was very difficult for us. Chelsea played very good. Chelsea is a favourite for the tournament.
‘We made lots of errors and I accept we must play even better. But I am satisfied with the way we played.’
To be brutally honest, it`s hard to see anybody failing to take maximum points in the matches against the group under-dogs, but you just never know.
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