Chelsea players were like 11 babies: Ibrahimovic

LONDON — Chelsea’s players were accused of behaving like a group of babies by Zlatan Ibrahimovic and of failing to cope with the pressure by their manager Jose Mourinho, following Wednesday’s Champions League loss to Paris Saint-Germain (PSG).

Ibrahimovic was furious with how Chelsea’s entire outfield team put pressure on referee Bjorn Kuipers before his sending off.

“When the red card happened, the worst thing was the Chelsea players — I felt there were 11 babies around me,” he said.

Graeme Souness, the former Liverpool pundit, also accused the Chelsea players of pathetic behaviour that went against the best British traditions of fair play.

Ibrahimovic seemed to try to pull out of a tackle with Oscar, but the Chelsea forward went down in apparent agony and all nine remaining outfield players rushed towards the referee. Chelsea, though, could feel equally aggrieved when Diego Costa was denied a blatant first-half penalty after being tripped by Edinson Cavani and was also elbowed off the ball by David Luiz.

Mourinho suggested that UEFA consider banning Luiz for an elbow on Costa rather than Ibrahimovic for the quarter-final, but agreed that Kuipers had been poor.

The teams were level at 1-1 after Luiz’s 86th minute equaliser cancelled out Gary Cahill’s 81st-minute strike for Chelsea. The Londoners went ahead six minutes into extra time through Eden Hazard’s penalty, but Thiago Silva’s 114th-minute header was decisive, giving the Parisians victory 3-3 on aggregate on the away goals rule.

Mourinho was still candid about his own team’s failings and had no complaint about Chelsea’s ultimate exit, despite having twice led in the match. He said: “When a team cannot cope with the pressure of being with one player more, playing at home ... we deserved to be punished.”

Mourinho said he was surprised by his team’s fragility and, after having had a full week to prepare, believes the issue was mental. When asked whether he felt humiliated, he said: “I didn’t steal. I don’t go to jail. I lost a football match. Now, I want to play Sunday.” THE DAILY TELEGRAPH