Depriving Jose Mourinho’s side of a single shot on target, City recorded a convincing 2-0 win to end a run of two games without a goal – however, the City boss refused to take any credit for the win and ruled out vengeance as the motivation for his team’s dominant performance.
MANAGER MANUEL PELLEGRINI:
“It wasn’t revenge that drove us – of course we don’t want to lose two games to Chelsea at home,” the Chilean declared.
“Today we played very well in all senses. Defending, in possession, attacking – Chelsea didn’t have any chances to shoot and that was important to us.
“That’s why we had a little down in our performances against Norwich and Chelsea but from what I saw in training on Friday, I was absolutely sure that we would play a very good game tonight and we did.
“It’s so easy for me to talk about tactics because we won – I don’t think we had any tactical problems against Chelsea the other day – we know how they play, we know how we play.
“In the other game, we had two clear chances at the beginning, we missed and they scored. Today was not a tactical masterclass from me – I don’t believe in those things.”
“It’s one step more in a competition, I think for me the most important thing we did today was to beat a great team and also, I had a lot of questions after Chelsea, if we’re going to change our way of playing but I repeat: we will not change the way we play.
“Today was important to show why we continue to play in the same way.”
JOSE MOURINHO:
“I don’t think my team failed – I’d say City played much better than us,” Mourinho reflected.
“They deserved to win more than us – when the best teams wins, football is in peace.
“Credit my team for what they did two weeks ago and today, City were the best team, they deserved to win and they won.
“We were never close to scoring or being dominant, or bringing a scare to the game.
“One team had one week without a game, one didn’t – I think that also made a difference.”
Written by Steve Milne @stevenmilnelive
