It would not have been surprising to see Mourinho apoplectic in the post-game press conferences after Chelsea's hilarious woes in front of goal on Tuesday, but while the Boss acknowledged our failure to kill off the game, he was quick to stress that he was -- without a hint of sarcasm -- "so happy" with several aspects of Chelsea's overall play.
"...the reality is that we played so well, so compact, so confident, with so much control; [the back six] had complete dominance in the game. I'm so happy; we didn't score goals but the biggest responsibility for that was on Sporting's goalkeeper."
Of the back six, Mourinho was most pleased with Matic, whom he called a "monster." Probably a SPIDERBEAST monster, to be specific. Fans of Sporting Lisbon's fiercest rival, Benfica would have no doubt approved of the assessment of their ex-player. Perhaps the only thing missing from Nemanja Matic's performance and especially goal celebration was the patented Raul Meireles hand flippity-floppity-thingy (with which the ex-Porto MRLSH famously trolled the Benfica faithful).
Perhaps behind the scenes Jose was a bit more displeased with all the wasted chances. The tone was set when Diego Costa missed a 1-v-1 just a few seconds into the match of course; while André Schürrle either needs a cuddle to settle him down or a few stern words to knock some sense into him or some sort of voodoo sacrifice to Lady Luck as he's now gone 18 shots (over just 2(1) appearances) without a goal. But at least in public, Mourinho was pleased with the three points which have put Chelsea firmly back in the driver's seat for Champions League knockout round qualification.