Conte praises Chelsea 'spirit' in fightback
Antonio Conte paid tribute to his Chelsea players for showing "great personality" and "spirit" to secure a dramatic late 2-1 Champions League win over Atletico Madrid, but admitted that he is not sure whether they will all be fit to take on Manchester City on Saturday.
Michy Batshuayi's 94th-minute goal ensured that Conte's men became the first team to beat Atletico at their new Wanda Metropolitano Stadium, after Alvaro Morata's header had cancelled out a first-half penalty from Antoine Griezmann in Wednesday's clash of Group C heavyweights.
The result sees Chelsea maintain their two-point lead over Roma at the top of the group, but after the match Conte was torn between elation at the result and anxiety at a lack of preparation time for the visit of Premier League title rivals City to Stamford Bridge.
"Our performance was very good and I'm very happy for my players," Conte told BT Sport. "To play in this way, with this spirit, with this personality, is not simple. You know very well when you go 1-0 down against Atletico Madrid it's very difficult to come back.
"Despite this in the second half we continued to play very well, with great concentration and great personality. We scored twice and we deserved to win."
In his postmatch news conference, Conte added: "Now for us it is important to rest and recover very well. We don't have a lot of time. We are a bit penalised [by the schedule], so it is important to take this decision for the team.
"Manchester City were yesterday at home [against Shakhtar], we were tonight away. We arrive in London at around 4 a.m. To have only one day [to prepare] is not right as there is the international break [afterwards], there aren't other fixtures.
"I am surprised that we play the big game on Saturday and not Sunday. This is the truth. But we want to be ready and we want to face this game. Manchester City are a really strong team. They are scoring a lot of goals. It is a very important game in the league. Someone must analyse the situation."
Michy Batshuayi gave Chelsea a dramatic late victory over Atletico. PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU/AFP/Getty Images
Eden Hazard was in scintillating form for Chelsea, hitting the post with a shot from distance and crossing for Morata to score, and Conte was full of praise for the Belgian.
"Eden's performance was amazing," he added. "It was the first big game for him after the bad injury and his answer was fantastic. He had a great link with Alvaro.
"I'm very happy for Michy but also Willian and [Andreas] Christensen, who played with great personality when they came on in a very difficult part of the game for us."
Conte said that his players exhausted themselves "physically and mentally" against Atletico, and he will have to monitor them closely before deciding on his team to face City.
"I want to check tomorrow and then Friday before the game," he continued. "Maybe I will wait one or two hours before, speak to my players. I want to speak with everyone and then make the best decision."
Source: espn.co.uk
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