Chelsea’s Cesc Fabregas at a press conference on Tuesday ahead of Wednesday night’s Uefa Champions League last-16, second-leg match against Paris Saint-Germain. Andy Rain / EPA / March 10, 2015
Chelsea’s Cesc Fabregas at a press conference on Tuesday ahead of Wednesday night’s Uefa Champions League last-16, second-leg match against Paris Saint-Germain. Andy Rain / EPA / March 10, 2015

‘If we can kill, we have to kill’ says Chelsea’s Cesc Fabregas of PSG clash



Cesc Fabregas wants Chelsea to be ruthless in Wednesday night's Uefa Champions League last-16 second leg with Paris Saint-Germain.

A 1-1 draw in Paris and Branislav Ivanovic’s away goal gives Chelsea a slender advantage entering the Stamford Bridge clash.

“If we can kill, we have to kill,” Fabregas said.

“When we get one goal, we have to go for the second and after the second the third. That’s the only thing we can really improve.

“Hopefully we will have that killer instinct.”

Chelsea won the League Cup on March 1 and are still chasing two more pieces of silverware this term: the Premier League and Champions League.

Spain international Fabregas feels the League Cup win – the first trophy of Jose Mourinho’s second spell in charge of Chelsea – can provide the foundation for further success.

Reflecting on his experience with Spain, the World Cup and European Championship-winning playmaker said: “When we unlocked, mentally, that fear of quarter-finals, or getting onto a really big stage, that’s when we felt we could become champions.

“Once we were champions we were unstoppable. That’s what we have to do. We have to believe we are the best, be mentally dominant and ready to cope with every situation.”

Fabregas is yet to win the Champions League, but hopes to do so with Chelsea following his move from Barcelona last summer.

“I want to win for Chelsea, I want to give my best and hopefully we will go through into the next round,” he said.

“We’ll go game by game. Sometimes the best team doesn’t win. You have to be fortunate with the draw or your performance on the day.

“We have to take it to the next level. We want to go through. We have to make it happen.”

Mourinho accused French champions PSG of being “the most aggressive” side Chelsea have played this season.

“With players of such quality I was expecting more football and less aggression,” he said.

“I thought an English team would never be surprised by aggression. In that game I was surprised, because a team with fantastic players was a team with the record of fouls, was the team that was making foul after foul, was the team that stopped [Eden] Hazard with fouls all the time.”

PSG, eliminated on away goals by Chelsea in last season’s competition, were on top for much of the first leg at Parc des Princes.

But Mourinho bristled when asked about PSG’s dominance.

He said: “What is dominate? If dominate is the number of chances, yes, Paris had more chances than us.

“If dominate is to stop the opponent to play, making foul after foul, yes they also dominate.

“If dominate is to have the ball and to move the ball without progression, yes, they also dominate.

“I think they dominate in everything except in the result.”

The Portuguese manager said his team has no intention of playing conservatively. “We are going to try to win.”

Mourinho revealed his players – unlike PSG’s – will not receive a bonus for progressing to the quarter-finals.

The French club’s Qatari owners will pay out €250,000 (Dh981,500) to each squad member if they knock out Chelsea, according to some media outlets.

“The club pay us a very good salary to do our job the best we can,” Mourinhowas quoted as saying by several British newspapers. “We do that job as best we can. If we take the club into quarter-finals, semi-finals, finals, but we don’t win the competition, we are doing a very good job for the club financially but I don’t think we should get extra money, on top of our salaries, if we don’t win the last prize

“It’s nice I think if somebody puts on the table 250,000 euros or pounds to win a certain match, it’s nice. But I think professionalism goes above and beyond that.”

He added: “Football is about our passion for the game, the happiness and the pride of victories. They have no price.”

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