Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has labelled Paris St Germain as the most physical side he has faced this season.
Laurent Blanc had questioned the physicality of Chelsea, and in particular Diego Costa, in his press conference and Mourinho, who did not want to discuss the Frenchman's comments, remained unhappy at the treatment of Eden Hazard.
The Blues have faced sides from the Football League, notably Derby, Bradford and Shrewsbury but it was the French champions who Mourinho declared as the most aggressive.
He said: “I was surprised in that game. I was surprised. Because a team with fantastic players was the team with a record number of fouls, was the team making foul after foul, was the team which stopped Hazard with fouls all the time.
“They were attacking the man in possession of the ball with two or three players with some very aggressive actions, a team where – even a player like Zlatan (Ibrahimovic), a typical attacking player – came back when they lost the ball and attacked Hazard from behind when we were countering.
“I thought an English team would never be surprised by aggression, because aggression we have in our country. This season we've played against sides form the Championship in the Cups, against teams from League One, and Shrewsbury from League Two, but the most aggressive team was PSG.
“For me, that was a real surprise. With players of such quality, I was expecting more football and less aggression.”
Paris St Germain felt they dominated the first leg, but Mourinho hit back at those suggestions with some typically sarky comments.
He said: “It depends upon your concept of football. What is domination? If that means chances, then yes. If that means making foul after foul, then they dominated.
“If moving the ball with aggression [missed a bit in here], yes they dominated. So they dominated in everything except the result.”
