On whether already being champions and rotating his team affected the performance…
That, we will never know, but I think what we also saw today were a lot of things that we’ve seen throughout the whole season. Us playing through the high press of the opponent so many times and so many moments that we arrived in the final third. But I also saw us defending today, not that I am used to it always, so the last percentages were not of a normal standard. In the final third we come there so many times and normally we are able to create more chances.
That could mean two things. Either Chelsea did well in both boxes, which they did, but I think it tells us also a little bit about us. In general, [it was] a good performance, but the final percentages weren’t there to win this game of football. [In] the lead-up to both goals a player of ours slipped. Would it have happened as well if the game was on the line? Yes or no, we will never know – but the margins are small in the Premier League, especially if you play a team like Chelsea with so many quality players, then you cannot afford these kind of moments.
On the booing from Chelsea supporters during the guard of honour…
I didn’t hear it, to be honest. I only heard our fans during almost the whole game. I just heard that they couldn’t come here on trains, so they had to go by car. But they were on time and they were loud throughout the whole game. I haven’t heard anyone booing – I only heard our fans singing.
On what he and his squad have learned over the season to take forward to next year…
That the margins are small. That has been throughout the whole season in the games we’ve won and today again as well. You slip twice and you concede two goals. Paris Saint-Germain, an incredible game, maybe the best game of our season at home where we dominated the second half. We were just waiting for us to score a goal, which we didn’t, then because players got tired I had to make quite a lot of substitutions.
We were lucky to end up taking the penalties and, talking about small margins, losing the penalty shootout, they are now in the semi-final and we are out. Yes, we all have quality players. Chelsea have them, [Manchester] City have them, Arsenal have them, [Aston] Villa have them… we have them as well. But the margins are small and that’s why you have to work so hard every three days to get so many points onboard. That’s what we did this season and if we want to have any chance of competing next season then that’s the minimum we need again.
On whether Chelsea will provide a threat next season…
I expected them to be a threat this season because at Anfield they were better than us. They were so close to us. It was a complete surprise to me that we are now 19 points clear of them or something like that. I didn’t feel that at all when we played them. That tells you how well we did, probably, if a team like this with so much quality, and also not only in the first XI, but in the complete squad, that we are able to be 19 points ahead of them is a big compliment for our players.
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