Despite a first leg 2-1 defeat to PSG in the Champions League round of 16 on Tuesday, Chelsea Manager, Guus Hiddink still believes strongly that his side is “still in the race” to reach the next stage of the Champions League.
Mikel Obi cancelled out Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s opener to give Chelsea a vital away goal but Edinson Cavani’s struck late to give the hosts a narrow advantage going into the second leg at the Stanford Bridge.
Hiddink said, “Of course, a defeat is never a good or nice feeling, but you have to consider that it is a two-legged game, and scoring away is always good.
“We emphasise on that, and emphasise a very good tactical defensive organisation, but on top of that we had some danger also. We were not killing in the four or five counters that we had, I think we could have gone a little bit further than that. But losing 2-1, of course we are still in the race.”
Edinson Cavani, a £55m record signing for the French league 1 leaders, came on as a substitute in the game and Hiddink admitted he looked on with envy at the options at Laurent Blanc’s disposal.
“I think bearing in mind we are playing a very strong team, you can see that this team what they can bring in the second half with substitutions, this is a very strong PSG with a good build in the total squad,” Hiddink said, adding that: “I envy a bit the bench of PSG.
“The performance of our players tactically was good, but we could have been a little better in the four or five counters we made. I’m never happy with a loss, but it’s not a dramatic loss.
“The players did well (defensively), not just the four in defence. We also had a disciplined midfield, we had to reshuffle.”
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