Antonio Conte was positive about Chelsea's chances of progressing in the Champions League knock-out stages at the press conference following his team's final group stage fixture against Atletico Madrid.

Speaking about his team's headway in the competition so far, the Italian said that he was happy with the way Chelsea had gone about the group stages of the competition, particularly because the group was "tough".

"We must be pleased for our group," he said. "It was a tough group. In the past Madrid has played a fantastic Champions League, twice getting to the final."

The state of play

With Chelsea likely to face one of Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain or Besiktas, Conte reminded the audience of the fact that "when you play this competition you need to be able to face the best teams." 

Becoming reminiscent for a moment, he reminded the press conference of the state of play in the European Championships.

"In the European Championships we have to play Spain, then Germany and if we had beaten them we would have played France."

"I think we must be ready. We have to try to be productive and we must be ready to play."
 
"At the same time, I don't think our opponent will be happy to play against us." 
 

The game tonight

When questioned about the evening's fixture against Atletico Madrid, Conte was clear that the result was disappointing for his team.

"I think tonight it was a good performance," he admitted. "I think we deserve to win the game because we had so many chances to score. Important chances."

"The keeper was the best player for them. We could have had more accuracy to finish."

"We conceded a goal that we could avoid, We made a lot of mistakes. But I am proud of the team. We tried to strain... to win."

Disappointing Bakayoko?

The Italian was also asked if he was disappointed by the progress of youngster Tiemoue Bakayoko who has been criticised recently in the media.

Conte was quick to back his player, saying: "He's a young player working hard to improve at our idea of football. It's important to have patience and realise that mistakes will happen."

"At the same time, I'm very happy with his commitment to training."

VAVEL Logo
About the author