Mourinho praises players and Porto

Chelsea FC manager José Mourinho paid tribute to the mental strength of his side as they came from a goal down to defeat FC Porto and reach the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League for the third time in four years. Opposite number Jesualdo Ferreiria agreed that the half-time introduction of John Obi Mikel for Claude Makelele changed the game, and also had words of encouragement for his players after pushing the tournament favourites all the way.

José Mourinho, Chelsea manager
I think they played better than us in the first half but I was happy with the second-half performance. I told the players at half-time to enjoy themselves in the second half and enjoy being under pressure. My players were very strong mentally in the second 45 minutes. The change we made at half-time was crucial. The game was intense and Chelsea had a higher intensity - we can thank playing in the English Premiership for that. We deserved the result for our very strong second-half performance but Porto should be proud of the work they did. I thought the game was very open even when we were leading 2-1.

Jesualdo Ferreiria, Porto coach
We were stronger than Chelsea in the first half and deserved to be in the lead at the break. Their win in the end came because of the changes made by the Chelsea coach - [Mikel] changed the face of the game and we had to adapt but Chelsea won. It was a fair result but I'm very proud of my team. Our club is strong and we'll aim to do well in the Champions League next year and remain positive despite this loss. I have a way of playing which gets results, and this was a match either team could have won.