Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has named Mikel Obi
as one of the outstanding players in the Blues 1-0
victory over hosts Sydney FC in their post-season
friendly in Australia on Tuesday.
Mikel, who did not enjoy enough first-team
appearance with the London club in their last
season’s campaign, played in the entire duration of
the game, but teenage defender Temitayo Aina was
on the bench throughout.
Loic Remy gave the visitors the only goal of the game
via a left-footed strike at the ANZ Stadium, but
Mourinho never underplayed the role of Mikel in the
encounter.
“I’m happy with the performance of my senior
players because it’s been a long season, in fact very
long,” Mourinho said on Chelsea’s website.
“There were some performances from people like
Ivanovic, Terry and Mikel where they tried to play
football and the result could have been completely
different.
“In the last part of the game the younger boys
couldn’t cope with the competitiveness of the Sydney
players, they felt they had a chance and they pushed
a little bit in the last period.”
Ruben Loftus-Cheek, the teenage midfielder who
recently joined the senior team, was tongue-lashed
by the Portuguese.
“Ruben said he had a pain in his back, but I think he
was more impressed by watching Matic and Mikel
work, instead of him working,” Mourinho said.
“He has to learn that at 19 you have to run three
times more than the others, you have to play to your
limits and not play like a superstar with the ball at
your feet because this is not Under-18s.”
Mikel had earlier expressed his pleasure at seeing
some 10,000 supporters turn out to watch their
training in Sydney.
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