Chelsea manager Graham Potter warns the 3-0 victory over Milan was ‘important, but there’s still a long way to go’ in the very open Champions League group.
The Rossoneri had more possession at Stamford Bridge, but it was utterly toothless, creating only one real scoring opportunity on the stroke of half-time.
Instead, the Blues pounced on unforced errors to score with Wesley Fofana, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Reece James.
“It was a good night for us. We needed to play well. The attitude and application of the players was fantastic. It was a really important win for us,” Potter told BT Sport after his career first Champions League victory.
Potter was brought in after Thomas Tuchel was sacked, largely due to the 1-0 Champions League defeat to Dinamo Zagreb.
“I thought we started off a bit nervous for about five minutes. It was just a result of us wanting to do so well. But then you saw the appetite of the players. We got control of it and had a bit of a threat. The first goal was important. We had to start a little on the back foot in the second half. We suffered a bit, which was good, and the second goal gave us a breather.
“Clean sheet, three goals. The personality of players was good.”
Fofana scored the goal, but also went off in the first half with an injury and was spotted leaving Stamford Bridge on crutches.
“We’ll have to scan it tomorrow. See how it is. Nothing to report at the moment. The one disappointing thing of the evening.”
Potter played Kalidou Koulibaly for the first time since taking over and it made a big difference to the Chelsea defence.
“It was a good performance from the team overall. Apart from the end of the first half, they didn’t have many chances. It says a lot about how we defended as a unit. It was an important win but still a long way to go in the competition.”
RB Salzburg beat Dinamo Zagreb 1-0 earlier this evening, so it is an incredibly tight group with the Austrians on five points, Chelsea and Milan four, Dinamo three.