Carlo Ancelotti: Chelsea under pressure to win trophy after Champions League exit
Italian looks to rebound from European knock-out blow
By Anthony Sciarrino
The Blues were eliminated from the Champions League on Tuesday night when they were defeated by Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan 1-0 at Stamford Bridge.
The Italian has conceded that the early exit means that Chelsea are under more pressure to win a major trophy this season.
"Now we have two important competitions [Premier League and FA Cup]. We're at the top of the list and want to win,” Ancelotti told The Sun.
"We'll have more pressure on the next few games but we must be strong and have good control of our emotions.
"Maybe this defeat could be a very good motivation for the next few games.
"My regret is we didn't play as well as we did in the first leg this evening."
Chelsea are currently in a second-place tie with Arsenal in the Premier League, two points behind Manchester United with a game in hand, and have reached the FA Cup semi-finals, where they will play Aston Villa.
Inter now head into the quarter-finals as the lone representative of Serie A. Other last eight participants include Man United, Arsenal, Bayern Munich, CSKA Moscow and Lyon so far.
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For Milan progression to next round seems inevitable after they thumped Arsenal 4-0 at the San Siro.
However things are very different for Zenith, and despite their win you may actually make Benfica favourites given they scored two away goals in Russia.
Here's the thoughts of Benfica coach Jorge Jesus who felt his side deserved a point from the game
"They were the better team on the night and that's the story of the day.
"We have to keep fighting, pick ourselves up, get the confidence back and challenge in the other competitions and in the second leg of this tie too.
"They punished us on every occasion; they scored some quality goals and they deserved to win."
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