Fernando Torres has warned his Chelsea team-mates they must improve or they face an early exit from the Champions League.
FERNANDO TORRES has warned his Chelsea team-mates they must improve or they face an early exit from the Champions League.
The holders became the first side to beat Shakhtar Donetsk in 38 matches after Victor Moses scored in the 94th minute to claim a 3-2 victory but they were outplayed for long periods at Stamford Bridge.
Roberto di Matteo’s side still face a tough task to qualify for the last 16 as they play away to Juventus, who are just one point behind both clubs in third, on November 20 before bottom side Nordsjaelland come to the Bridge for the final game of Group E.
Chelsea have had plenty of fortune this season. They could have lost to Juventus at home after throwing away a two-goal lead, should have also been beaten by a wider margin than the 2-1 scoreline in Donetsk last month and relied on the Ukrainian champions making sloppy mistakes at the back to claim all three points last night.
Torres (right) said: “Shakhtar are a great team. They have showed they have a great mentality. They came back twice and we were lucky at the end scoring the last goal in the last minute of the game.
“I’m happy with the result but we know we must do much better. It’s not the way we’re used to scoring. We know we have to improve.
“We caused problems for them, pressing and creating chances from their mistakes, but we did not create when we had the ball like we’re used to.
“When we have the ball, we know we are dangerous and we can create some chances but it was not the case.
“We were a bit worried about that at half-time and we conceded another early goal in the second half. This kind of situation cannot happen again because, especially in the Champions League, at times like these you can be out.”
But defender Gary Cahill believes the victory has helped ease the strain on the squad ahead of the difficult trip to Juventus.
He said: “It does take the pressure off the match in Turin. We knew leading into this game how big three points would be.”
Torres, who opened the scoring in the sixth minute when he charged down keeper Andriy Pyatov’s attempted clearance, is now aiming to pile more misery on former club Liverpool this Sunday.
The Reds have just 11 points from their first 10 games but Chelsea need a win after losing top spot to Manchester United.
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Torres, who joined Chelsea for £50milllion in January last year, said: “It is a big game. Now we are second and we want to be on the top as soon as we can so the first step is winning against Liverpool.”
