Jose Mourinho lamented Chelsea's defending from set-pieces but was otherwise satisfied with his team's display after they suffered a fifth defeat of the season on Tuesday, 2-1 at Porto in the Champions League.
IMAGES from Europa League matches played on Thursday.
Out-of-sorts Chelsea have a golden opportunity to restore battered self-confidence when they face Maccabi Tel Aviv in their opening Champions League Group G match.
Fiorentina fell behind to a spectacular scissors-kick goal from Pandurii's Eric Pereira before hitting back in the last five minutes to win 2-1 on Thursday and lead a charge of teams into the Europa League knockout stages.
Seven-time European champions AC Milan hit back from two goals down against Celtic to claim a 4-2 victory that sent them into the Europa League knockout phase on Thursday as they were among 14 teams to progress in Europe's second-tier competition.
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho believes that not having another international break until March will help his team recapture their best form after a woeful start to the season.
Jose Mourinho was delighted that Chelsea made a winning start to their Champions League campaign on Wednesday, but said he was not happy that Manchester United, Manchester City and Arsenal had all lost their opening matches.
Chelsea struck the woodwork twice but could not find a breakthrough in an entertaining 0-0 Champions League draw at Dynamo Kiev on Tuesday that left everything to play for in Group G.
Jose Mourinho's job could be on the line when Chelsea host Porto in the Champions League on Wednesday and Alex Ferguson has urged the Londoners not to jettison their manager even if the result goes against them.
A stunning free kick from Willian seven minutes from time gave Chelsea a nervy and hard-fought 2-1 UEFA Champions League Group G win over Dynamo Kiev on Wednesday to lift some of the gloom surrounding Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea enjoyed a somewhat fortuitous return to winning ways when they beat Aston Villa on Saturday but their fragile self-confidence will face a far more severe test at Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League on Tuesday.
Spain became the first country to have five teams in the Champions League group stage in one season after Valencia squeezed past Monaco .
Johan Cruyff, the legendary Dutch soccer striker and coach, died aged 68, according to a message posted on his website.
Metalist Kharkiv, due to play Schalke 04 in the Champions League play-off round next week, has been kicked out of the competition over a domestic match-fixing case dating back to 2008, the UEFA said on Wednesday. The decision by UEFA's appeals committee came 10 days after Metalist lost an appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Manchester United ended their one-year Champions League hiatus in emphatic style when Wayne Rooney struck a hat-trick in a 4-0 destruction of Club Bruges that sent the three-times winners through 7-1 on aggregate on Wednesday.
Goals from Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who made a mockery of his two-month exile from the starting lineup with a superb individual effort, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic secured an easy win that banished memories of their earlier group stage struggles.
Jonathan Soriano scored an incredible goal from near the halfway line to complete a stunning 3-0 win for Salzburg away to once-mighty Ajax Amsterdam in the Europa League round of 32 on Thursday.
A Neymar double and a clinical finish from Luis Suarez handed Barcelona a comfortable 3-0 victory over BATE Borisov that put them on the verge of qualifying for the last 16 of the Champions League for the 12th consecutive season.
The Champions League group stages took on a less predictable look after Thursday's draw, helped by UEFA's decision to tweak the seeding system.
Goals from Jan Vertonghen and Jermain Defoe left Tottenham Hotspur on the cusp of the Europa League knockout stages as four other clubs maintained perfect starts on Thursday.
Three time European champions Inter Milan were stunned 2-0 at home by Israeli side Hapoel Beer-Sheva and Manchester United were floored by a late goal from Feyenoord as the Europa League group stage got underway on Thursday.
Jose Mourinho suffered a nightmare homecoming as Porto, the club he led to the Champions League title in 2004, inflicted a 2-1 defeat on his woefully out-of-sorts Chelsea side in Group G on Tuesday.
Two goals from Thomas Mueller and one from substitute Mario Goetze helped Bayern Munich kick off their Champions League campaign with an impressive 3-0 victory over Olympiakos.
Malta make Italy sweat, while Bale takes Wales closer to competition
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