The 3-0 loss at Stamford Bridge saw them crash out 8-2 on aggregate at the last-16 stage to defending champions Paris St Germain.
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Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior insists their season must not derail after their Champions League exit (Adam Davy/PA)open image in gallery
Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior insists their season must not derail after their Champions League exit (Adam Davy/PA) (PA Wire)
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Liam Rosenior said it is his job to make sure Chelsea’s season is not derailed after they were beaten 3-0 by Paris St Germain at Stamford Bridge to exit the Champions League 8-2 on aggregate.
The result marked a heaviest-ever two-legged defeat for the Blues in Europe and just like in the first leg at the Parc des Princes, it was individual mistakes which were their undoing.
Mamadou Sarr, brought in for his debut in the competition with Reece James and Malo Gusto ruled out, made a horrible error to gift Khvicha Kvaratskhelia a goal after six minutes and things only got worse from there.
Bradley Barcola scored a magnificent second, only after Trevoh Chalobah had failed to pick up the France international, before 19-year-old midfielder Senny Mayulu came off the bench to cap the home side’s humiliation.
It continued a theme from the first leg when goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen’s mistake was the catalyst for the team to ship three late goals, leaving them facing a task that proved too much.
“Six minutes in and another mistake,” said Rosenior. “It takes the wind from our sails. The second goal is hit from 25 yards into the top corner.
“When you go two goals down so early and five down on aggregate, it’s really difficult. Obviously, we wanted to put up more of a fight than we did. Credit to PSG. Over the two legs they deserve to go through.”
It was a third defeat in seven days following the thumping in the first leg and Saturday’s 1-0 defeat here to Newcastle, with Rosenior’s promising start in west London at risk of turning sour.
Chelsea are sixth in the Premier League and face a fight to return to the Champions League next season.
Asked how he would make sure the campaign is kept on track, Rosenior said: “That’s my job. How I go about that is how we always go about it. We need to be resilient. We need to make sure go to Everton (on Saturday) with organisation, freshness and intensity.
“We want to be in this competition next season. If we perform as we can, we can get there without the individual mistakes that we’re making.”
Cole Palmer and Joao Pedro were taken off in the second half with the tie clearly long out of Chelsea’s reach, but it did not stop a furious reaction from home fans at what appeared to be a the waving of a white flag.
“If I don’t manage their minutes their likelihood of getting injured is increased very highly,” said Rosenior.
“I have to make really difficult decisions that at the time probably don’t look great to be honest. You never want to take off your best players when you’re five goals down. But I want to make the best decisions in the long term as well.”
PSG boss Luis Enrique reflected that the tie was essentially won after the first leg.
“Of course, I’m proud because I didn’t expect that kind of result,” he said.
“If we think about the first match, the first 80 minutes we draw the match, then the last 10 minutes we overcame them.”