Maurizio Sarri was refreshingly upbeat in his post-match presser last night, despite Chelsea only limping to victory against Slavia Prague in the Europa League.
When the draw was made, we got the impression that Chelsea already had one foot in the semi-finals. No disrespect to Slavia, but Chelsea are a different breed – the favourites to win the competition.
Slavia surprised us last night, they gave as good as they got, giving us a really difficult time. We can consider ourselves fortunate to be heading into the second-leg with the advantage.
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Sarri, though he oversaw a rather uninspiring performance from his players, has been able to look on the brightside. He believes the fact that we struggled, but didn’t concede, is a positive.
The Italian is quoted by Goal saying:
“I am happy with the result and also the performance because, in this moment, we were able to suffer [and come through]. In the past, we weren’t able to suffer in difficult moments.”
“This is not for the first time but in the past, when we were in trouble, we conceded immediately. Now we can fight and suffer without conceding. That’s a step forward.”
He does have a point. Earlier in the campaign we probably would have conceded in a game like last night’s. They’ve proven to be difficult for us all season.
Whether we survived as a result of our grit, or rather good fortune, is subject to opinion.
