Chelsea head coach Liam Rosenior revealed that one of his players apologised to his teammates following the Premier League side’s 5-2 defeat against Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16.
On Wednesday (11 March), Chelsea fell to a crushing defeat against the reigning European champions despite coming from behind twice during the game.
Bradley Barcola opened the scoring ten minutes in before Malo Gusto drew Chelsea level on 28 minutes.
Then, 2025 Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembele made it 2-1 to the French side before half-time.
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Rosenior’s side fought back and made it 2-2 through Enzo Fernandez just before the hour mark.
But the Ligue 1 side’s quality shone through with Vitinha making it 3-2 after Barcola intercepted Filip Jorgensen’s pass before the Portuguese looped the ball over the retreating ‘keeper on 74 minutes.
Jorgensen started the match over the usual first-choice Robert Sanchez but did not make the most of his chance in Paris.
And Chelsea would’ve arguably been relatively pleased with going into the second leg having to overturn a one-goal advantage, but a Khvicha Kvaratskhelia brace has left the Blues with a mountain to climb at Stamford Bridge next Tuesday (17 March).
Following the match, head coach Rosenior spoke to the media, revealing that Jorgensen took full responsibility for his error in the dressing room.
“Players make mistakes,” Rosenior said. “Filip’s not the first one, and that’s part of football. Credit to him, he held his hands up in the dressing room.
“I make mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes. Sometimes they’re more costly. This is one of those moments. What we have to do for Rob and for Filip and for all of the players is look after each other. This is a big test of our character.”
The Chelsea boss then took the blame for the late collapse, with the final three goals coming in 20 minutes.
"The last 15-20 minutes were crazy, but that's on me," Rosenior added.
"We need to be better when setbacks happen, be calm and collected, and that didn't happen.
"It's a painful one because we were in the tie for 75 minutes. We have shot ourselves in the foot, made the tie very difficult now, and the fifth goal is the painful one.”
Chelsea return to action at home against Newcastle United on 14 March, before the last-16 second leg takes place on 17 March
Topics: Chelsea, Champions League, Football, Paris Saint-Germain
Luke Davies