Maurizio Sarri believes Chelsea deserved to win their Europa League semi-final first leg against Eintracht Frankfurt but he will settle for the 1-1 result.
A slow start from Chelsea proved costly as Luka Jovic headed the hosts in front in the 23rd minute, but the Blues soon began to fire and were rewarded when Pedro equalised on the stroke of half-time to give Sarri’s men a crucial away goal ahead of the return leg at Stamford Bridge.
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While happy with the performance of his players, Sarri believes they could have won the game against the Bundesliga side.
“I am very happy with the performance but not with the result because after 25 minutes we started to play. We played very well in the last 20 minutes of the first half and we played very well for 35 minutes in the second half so I think in the end we deserved to win,” Sarri told BT Sport.
“We have to play the second leg so 1-1 away is not so bad.”
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Captain Cesar Azpilicueta admits they struggled to cope with Frankfurt in the early exchanges but he was pleased with how they responded over the course of the game.
“We knew that we didn’t start very well. We couldn’t cope with the pressure and in those circumstances we conceded the goal. We went to score a goal and we got it before half-time, which is important, and I think the ambition from the team was to win the game in the second half,” he said.