Ancelotti acknowledges need for Chelsea to improve

Chelsea FC manager Carlo Ancelotti is adamant his team will find it "impossible to win the Champions League" if they reproduce their first-half display in a defeat of Group F strugglers MŠK Žilina. Trailing at the break, Florent Malouda struck a winner four minutes from time for the Blues which left Žilina coach Pavel Hapal ruing how close his side were "to a brilliant result".

Carlo Ancelotti, Chelsea manager
It was a difficult game because we didn't start well, we were 1-0 down. We had a good reaction in the second half, with more intensity and good play, and plenty of opportunities to score. The second half was very good. If we play like we did in the first half, it's impossible to win the Champions League. If we play like we did in the second then we'll have a chance.

We'd played too slowly in the first half and gave them the opportunity to control their defensive positions. I wanted to play with a different system, with two wingers and Daniel Sturridge and Didier Drogba in the middle. For this reason I took out [Gaël] Kakuta. For the young players, it was a good experience. They played well, generally, and put in good performances for the team.

Pavel Hapal, Žilina coach
We're really disappointed because my players fought for the whole game and we were so close to a brilliant result, but in the end luck was not on our side. It's a pity because a draw would have been a great result for us, but Chelsea are a high-quality team and they proved that in the last few minutes. We were able to repair a little bit of the damage caused by the debacle that was our previous game against Olympique Marseille. It's a good feeling to cause a bit of trouble to a big team like Chelsea.