Thibaut Courtois : We want to win everything

About the 1st Leg Semifinal Capital Cup
‘I think a draw, in the end, was a good result,’
‘It could have been worse and now the next game will be like a final, in front of our fans and we have to be able to win.‘
‘We know we are strong at home but every game is a difficult game. Liverpool are playing really well so we know they are dangerous.

About the Ambition
‘We want to win everything; it will be difficult but I think we have the team to do it and hopefully we can achieve it. To play in a final at Wembley would be a really nice experience.‘
‘When you can play a final, and hopefully win it, you get the feeling of winning trophies and you want to go on and win more. Last season the group didn’t win anything and they were very close, so you want to everything possible, starting with the League Cup.‘

‘Myself, Diego, Filipe and Cesc Fabregas [the new players], along with the rest of the team, want to win trophies with Chelsea and that starts with the League Cup.‘
‘At the moment we are playing well in all of the competitions,’
‘We’re in the semi-final (of the Capital One Cup), we’re top of the league, on Saturday we have an important game in the FA Cup, which we have to win, and in the Champions League we will soon be playing Paris Saint-Germain, which will be hard.‘
‘I think we have the team to win everything but obviously there are other teams which can do the same.’

About His Injuries & Competition with Petr Cech
‘I was not 100 per cent fit, I still had some pain in my thumb so obviously then it’s not good to play if you know you cannot help the team to your full level,’ he explained.‘
‘There was another top goalkeeper ready to play and I trained two or three times at 100 per cent so that I was ready to play at Liverpool. With the finger protection I don’t feel anything anymore.‘

‘I’ve known from the start of the season he [Petr Cech] is behind me and pushing me. In training we are working hard, at a really high level.‘
‘He’s a top goalkeeper so obviously I know I have to play well in order to continue playing. Me and Pete just want to help the team, that’s’ the most important thing.’

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Jose Mourinho : Tonight It Was Fantastic Defensive Work

About the Game
‘It was a two-legged semi-final and now becomes a one-legged semi-final,’
‘The goals away are not important, so 0-0 is no good to us and 2-2 is no good to Liverpool. We have to win, they have to win. It’s a one-legged semi-final but obviously this time it will be played at Stamford Bridge.

‘Obviously Liverpool didn’t deserve to lose but I’m frustrated because we had lots of situations when we recovered the ball in a low block, facing a three-defender tactical system, with lots of space to counter attack. Eden, Willian and Diego were in great condition to attack spaces but we missed so many passes. We recovered the ball and then lost the ball, the exact opposite of what happened against Swansea. Then, we recovered the ball and made the right pass, the right choice.

‘Tonight it was fantastic defensive work, everybody was committed and organised, recovering the ball against good players, fast players, but when we recovered the ball we were not efficient with the transitions, so to score only one goal frustrates me.’

About Thibaut Courtois
‘The Premier League is full of top goalkeepers but we have the two best, so for me it was easy. To have both playing well and giving so much confidence to the team is good. I decide according to the profile of the game we are expecting. It’s fantastic for us to have these two goalkeepers. I think the three best keepers in the world are Petr, Courtois and Neuer.’

About the Cup
‘It’s fantastic the way big clubs like Chelsea and Liverpool treat this competition. In my clubs, I don’t accept the philosophy of one competition being more important than another. This is the most important, tomorrow the FA Cup becomes the most important. It was a proper semi-final, big prestige for the competition. We made a couple of changes but we tried to reach the final and in the next game we will do the same.’

About Wembley Final
‘Every Chelsea fan enjoys Wembley and we are one victory away from being there. I hope and I know they would like that. The last two League Cups Chelsea played were at Cardiff, Wembley is different.’

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Eden Hazard & Thibaut Courtois : Heroes of The Match

Eden Hazard : 
About the Game
‘We like to play these games,’
‘It was difficult to get a better result but the draw is not bad.
‘With the chances they had in the second half and they hit the post, we have to be happy with the result. Now we have to finish it at home, where we are strong, in front of our own fans.
‘The game will be like a final. We can win there and go to Wembley.’
‘It was not our best performance and after they scored their goal it was difficult because they tried to score another one but they didn’t and that is good for the second game. A draw here is not bad.’
About his Penalty
‘Sometimes in training with Belgium Simon [Mignolet] saves my penalties so I was a little bit scared but it was a goal and that was good,’

Thibaut Courtois : About the Saving
‘Sterling put the ball back to him and I couldn’t see when the ball left [his boot],’ Courtois explained.
‘I had a good reaction and made a good save and that is why I’m in the team: to help them when they need me. I was able to do that.’


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Adam Lallana : I can't believe the 'keeper saved it

About Courtois Saving
"I can't believe the 'keeper saved it, I was halfway on my celebration,"
"It was a fantastic save and probably one of the reasons why he got Man of the Match. He is world-class and Chelsea are a world-class team."

About the Game
"We come off the pitch disappointed but still in the game. We'll go to Stamford Bridge and we're fully confident we can go through to the final."
"I thought we played well in the first half but gave away a pretty soft penalty. The lads showed great character to get back into it. We said at half-time to be patient and that we were going to get chances."
"Being on the bench for the first hour and especially for the first 15 minutes of the second half, we knew we were going to come back and get chances - eventually we got the goal."

About Raheem Sterling
"He has shown maturity for the last three or four weeks - he has had to play in a position where he has not played so much.
"I thought he took his goal superbly; he let the ball run across the body, had a couple of touches and on his weaker foot put it into the bottom corner."

About Confidence Level
"We had a difficult start to the season, but the manager has found a shape and got people on the pitch in the right areas; we're causing teams problems."
"There is great confidence flowing among the team - Philippe is at the top of his game, Raheem, and it was great to have Stevie back fit. He hit the post as well and came through it unscathed."
"Defensively, we're looking good as a shape and we just keep improving."

liverpoolfc.com

Steve Holland (Chelsea's first team coach assistant) : About Match againts Newcastle United

‘The second half was better than the first half,’ acknowledged Holland. ‘Our performance level has been very good and consistent this year. In the first half we dropped below that, Jose was very clear to the players at half-time with what they needed to do, and the performance in the second half was more like the Chelsea we’re used to seeing week in, week out. In the end it was a fairly comfortable win, which didn’t look like it would be the case at half-time.
‘The second goal in particular was very typical of our play around the penalty area. Oscar deserves credit for scoring the first goal and assisting the second, two big impacts on the game.
‘It’s very difficult to hit the levels people expect every week, particularly in this country because we play so many matches, especially at this time of year. The players have had a real battering over Christmas and to reach the level everybody wants to see week in, week out is almost impossible.’

About Mourinho said to the players at the break :
‘He’s a highly experienced manager who knows what to say and when to say it. He wanted the team to play further up the pitch, press further up the pitch, to be mentally more aggressive and assertive with and without the ball. He wanted us to play at a quicker tempo and sustain attacks in their half.’

About Kurt Zouma, who made his first Premier League start :
‘The club gets a lot of stick for not giving young players a go, Kurt Zouma is 20 and that wasn’t his first performance of the season but he was immaculate today. We all have belief in him but ultimately Jose, as the leader and manager, has to make the decisions, and he showed great faith in him today by starting him. That faith was repaid, I thought he was immaculate and I can’t think of one thing he did wrong.’

About Cech, Courtois & Cahill :
‘Thibaut had an injury to his finger which he sustained in the Tottenham game; he could have played but he had some pain. We’re so fortunate to have two goalkeepers at the highest level and it was an easy decision to make in the end, why take the risk?
‘We play for nine months, we look like we might play 60 matches, we’ve just come out of a Christmas period where Gary played in every game and we have faith in all of the players in our squad. That faith was repaid today."

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