“It was a deserved defeat, my players were tired” – Mourinho speaks on loss to Basel

Jose Mourinho has conceded that Chelsea deserved to lose against Basel in their Champions League tie on Tuesday.

Mohamed Salah clinched the only goal of the match, three minutes from time as the Swiss champions went into second place behind the Premier League team.

Chelsea failed too register a shot on target in a weak performance, but Mourinho says the players were tired and he should have made more changes after the West Ham game.

“It was a deserved defeat, but because of other results we qualified. That is the only positive thing, now we have to get a result at home [Steaua] be first,” the former Real Madrid coach told Sky Sports.

“I didn’t like it from the first minute, when there was a defensive mistake immediately. The team only had a little bit of stability and control in the second half.

“The team was tired, they paid the price of the international 15 days. The arrival, the match that followed was crucial against West Ham, where the team played very well in an intense game, but today we paid the price because the players were tired.

“I’m not so sad with them, because I understand. The team was not fresh and maybe I should have made more changes, but there was a temptation to keep the same team because they played so well (at West Ham).”Jose Mourinho admitted Basel deserved their Champions League win over Chelsea, adding that he was relieved to qualify from Group F.