‘Painful’ – Liam Rosenior admits fifth PSG goal makes comeback uphill for Chelsea

Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior described Paris Saint-Germain’s fifth goal in Wednesday night’s Champions League round-of-16 clash as “painful,” after his side fell 5-2 at the Parc des Princes.

Chelsea twice came from behind in the first half, showing resilience and controlling large spells of the game, but late PSG strikes turned the contest decisively in the French side’s favour.

Rosenior acknowledged that the result was particularly frustrating given Chelsea’s performance for the majority of the match.

“Our performance up to the third goal was very good, but it can’t be spoken about now because of the end result,” he said.

Rosenior reflected on the chaotic closing stages: “It’s a very disappointing result on an evening where for much of the game I was pretty happy with our performance. The last 15, 20 minutes were crazy. At the top level it’s fine margins.

“Mistakes happen and we have to stay calm in the moment, me included. We didn’t and we were punished by a very good team. The scoreline is a painful one because for 75 minutes we were well in the tie and the game itself.”

The Chelsea boss highlighted moments when his team were close to regaining control. “At 2-2 we were in the ascendency, and we were an inch away from going to 3-3 with Enzo (Fernandez) an inch offside for Joao Pedro’s goal,” Rosenior said.

He admitted that even with the score at 4-2, the tie was not beyond reach but the fifth PSG goal made the comeback much harder.

“We didn’t settle ourselves down, we don’t deal with a basic pattern of play, they score a fifth goal and make the tie very difficult for us. We have shot ourselves in the foot and made this tie very difficult but not impossible to come back from.”

Chelsea will now return to Stamford Bridge with a steep task, needing to overturn a three-goal deficit, but Rosenior insisted the tie is far from over.