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Real Madrid Manager Jose Mourinho spoke to UEFA.com after his side secured qualification for the Champions League knockout stages after a 1-1 draw against Manchester City.
“My players worked very hard, they played a good game. We have won the point that has put us in the next round. It is important that we have achieved qualification with one game to spare. I think that we should have won the game,” he told UEFA.com
“We had plenty of chances to score the second goal, but we failed. If we had done that in the first half, the game would have been over, but instead, we did not get the goal and they had a reaction. They had the penalty that you on TV are in a better position than myself to judge. Arbeloa had a red card and again you have a better position to analyse the situation. After that we have no conditions to win, we played to get the point that gets us to the next stage.”
“The only two times I finish second in the group I win the Champions League. I finished second with Porto behind Real and second with Inter Milan
behind Barcelona - we win. Otherwise I always finish first and I never won the competition. I think it means something because you get a different kind of team, and means you play the second match at home or away, but my experience says it doesn’t mean so much. The teams that finished first will be waiting for an opponent they think may be easier, but if they get Real Madrid that is not good news for them,” he added.
Frenchman Karim Benzema gave the Spanish side a lead in the first half, but a red card in the 70th minute for right-back Alvaro Arbeloa made sure the match ended up as a draw.
On asked about the recent sacking of Roberto di Matteo, Mourinho admitted that could empathize with the former.
“That’s football. I am never happy when a manager is sacked because it can happen to me and it is a feeling nobody likes to have. But at the same time everybody knows I like Chelsea and I always support any Chelsea manager. I wished Roberto well and I do that with the next manager. Because if it happens to them, it can happen to me. I never enjoy when a manager is sacked. I always feel sorry for him and his family, because our lives are very, very similar.
“I’m not happy with any situation (like this), but everyone knows I like my old teams. I like Chelsea, I like Inter (Milan), I like Porto.
“I like them to win, so I always wish good to the managers of my former clubs. So I wish good to Benitez.”
