Jose Mourinho has told his Chelsea side to clinch Champions League knock-out qualification with two games to spare.
Mourinho watched on as his team squandered a series of chances either side of Nemanja Matic’s header to see off the Chelsea manager’s first major club.
The victory, combined with Schalke being held by Maribor, put Chelsea two points clear at the top of Group G and the Chelsea boss has encouraged his boys to take advantage of their fixtures over the next month to keep the heat off.
Mourinho said: “We missed a lot of chances, I know, but we got three points and in the group it is about points.
“Now we are in control of our destiny. Next we play two games against Maribor. If we manage six points, that would be 10 and job done, so we have just to focus on beating Maribor.
“With chances we had, it could have finished 4-0 or 5-0 but when we couldn’t transform our dominance into goals, we had to make sure we closed the door on them and that’s what we did.’’
Diego Costa, Gary Cahill, Andre Schurrle, Oscar and substitute Mohamed Salah all missed glaring chances, leaving an anxious finish as Sporting pressed for a leveller.
Skipper John Terry, who played his 100th Champions League match, agreed: ‘’We had so many chances to kill it off but it was one of those nights where it just didn’t go in for us.
“After only drawing with Schalke we had to make sure we won and we did that. Now we’re top of the group and in control again.’’
Terry admitted he was “very proud’’ to have become England’s latest Champions League centurion and Mourinho hailed his skipper’s contribution and longevity.
Mourinho added: “The club of 100 is a limited group. Only very few people can play 100 games in the Champions League for the same club.
“John may not have been captain in all those games, but surely in 90 or more of them. He’s an historic player and will go down in the history of the club.’’