• Champions League

Mourinho sets Chelsea challenge

Jose Mourinho has challenged his Chelsea players to secure their place in the Champions League knock-out stages with two games to spare after their 1-0 win against Sporting Lisbon in Portugal.

Chelsea now top Group G after Nemanja Matic's goal secured all three points at Estadio Jose Alvalade, with Mourinho suggesting victories in their next two matches should be enough to seal a last-16 spot.

Jose Mourinho hailed Nemanja Matic as a "monster" after his performance © Getty Images

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"Now we play two games against Maribor and if we manage six points, that would be 10 and job done," said Mourinho, on a night when the Slovenian Champions League outsiders secured an impressive point with a 1-1 draw against Schalke in Germany.

"This is not knockout where goals are fundamental. This is points. We lost two points at home [in a 1-1 draw against Schalke], we recovered that. Because of the other draw in the group, we put ourselves not in a comfortable position, but in one where we can control our destiny.

"Maribor deserve out attention. They didn't lose in Germany, they didn't lose against Sporting, but the reality is if we beat them at Stamford Bridge it is seven points for us. It would not be enough, but we would have control."

Mourinho was also quick to laud the performance of midfielder Matic, whom he described as a "monster" on the night.

"We played so well," he continued. "With so much comfort, so much control. It is difficult for us to kill the games [this season], but the four defenders, plus Matic and [Cesc] Fabregas had complete domination. Matic was a monster.

"I'm so happy. We didn't score the goals, but the biggest responsible for that was not my players, but the Sporting goal keeper [Rui Patricio]. I'm not going to repeat the words I said to him [at the end], because they would be censored.

"It had to do with something with spoiling the evening, spoiling the night. Games like this can end up 4-0 or 5-0, but it ended up 1-0. We had to make sure we closed all avenues for them to come back into the game and claim a draw, and that's what we did."

Mourinho went on to confirm he did not pick up any fresh injuries ahead of Sunday's crucial Premier League game against Arsenal, but he said he was not thinking about his latest meeting with Arsene Wenger just yet.

"We have one day rest because we played Saturday, travelling and playing on Tuesday and people are tired," he added. "I could see that on the pitch. Now we have time to rest and then think about Arsenal."

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