Jose Mourinho hailed his Chelsea players for adapting to his game plan after Chelsea’s 2-0 victory over Tottenham Hotspur in the Capital One Cup final at Wembley.
Goals from skipper John Terry and an own goal from Kyle Walker either side of half time sealed a fifth League Cup success for the Blues, and first trophy under Mourinho since he returned for a second spell at Stamford Bridge in 2013.
The Portuguese sprung a surprise with his team selection with Frenchman Kurt Zouma playing in midfield in the absence of the suspended Nemanja Matic, and Mourinho was delighted with his side.
“My players strategically were fantastic,” he said.
“I have a certain concept about the final and obviously we cannot win every final but finals are not to play they are to win.
“We had a team not everyone was expecting but we had a team with a great balance, very compact in midfield, we pressed them very well.
“We knew we would be dangerous on the counter, I was expecting more, but I think we played like we should play a final.”
#WembleyIsBlue pic.twitter.com/Nqy5YBTbas
— Samsung Sport (@samsungsport) March 1, 2015
Tottenham hit the crossbar through Christian Eriksen before Terry gave his side a first-half lead when Willian’s free-kick dropped to the former England captain inside the box and he fired home via a deflection.
Chelsea doubled their advantage just after the break when Diego Costa’s shot was turned in by the leg of Kyle Walker.
Spurs pushed in search of a way back into the game but to no avail and Chelsea closed out the match to gain revenge for the 2008 final defeat to their London rivals.
Congratulations @ChelseaFC – you are the 2015 #CapitalOneCupFinal winners! pic.twitter.com/C3sSQsvb4R
— Capital One Cup (@CapitalOne_Cup) March 1, 2015
Mourinho also lavished praise on players who were not involved at Wembley but played their part earlier in the campaign.
He added: “I am going to be honest, for me man of the match is (Thibaut) Courtois who brought us here with a fantastic semi-final against Liverpool.
“Man of the match is Filipe Luis, he didn’t play but played fantastic in two matches against Liverpool.
“Man of the match is (Andreas) Christensen, played so well against Shrewsbury. All these guys are man of the match for me and maybe more than John (Terry) and the lucky ones to play this final.
“I feel sorry for the ones that didn’t play so for me they are the men of the match because for me this is a team.”
Image courtesy of Sky Sports via YouTube, with thanks
