http://soccernet.espn.go.com/headlinenews?id=285630&cc=5901
Tuesday, December 9, 2003
Chelsea striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink admitted he thrived on the hostile
atmosphere in Gelsenkirchen as the Blues beat Besiktas to secure top spot in
Group G of the Champions League.
The Dutchman scored the first as he latched on to a Damien Duff
through-ball and slid home a low shot and laid on the second for Wayne Bridge
- his first competitive goal for Chelsea.
There were over 51,000 Turkish fans in the crowd all trying to make life
as difficult as possible for Claudio Ranieri's men, but Hasselbaink simply saw
it as a challenge.
He told ITV2: 'We knew the atmosphere would be brilliant and it was
absolutely hostile against us out there, but these are the games you want to
play in. We were all buzzing to play in this game and I think we did well.
'We looked solid, we gave one chance away in the first half and didn't
create too much but I'm happy with the result.'
Bridge added: 'I didn't know what to do once I'd scored - I don't get many
so it was nice to get that one. We worked hard, made it look comfortable and
we came away top of the league.'
Besiktas manager Mircea Lucescu played down the behaviour of the Turkish
fans and launched a fresh attack on Chelsea.
Chelsea players were bombarded by rolls of toilet tissue and other
missiles, and the second half was delayed by eight minutes as stewards cleared
part of the pitch.
But Lucescu dismissed it as 'not important' and instead accused Claudio
Ranieri's men of playing dirty.
'It was nothing, it is better to throw paper than other things - this is
not important,' said the Romanian.
'The referee didn't see that twice our player Ilhan Mansiz was elbowed -
that is much more dangerous than throwing paper.
'[Marcel] Desailly and [John] Terry used their elbow on him and he was off
the field for ten minutes, which meant we had to play with 10 men while he had
treatment - and he is our most important player at set pieces.
'We lost and I congratulate Chelsea - but we lost in difficult conditions
, not in fair conditions. I don't understand UEFA.'
Lucescu was referring to the fact that Europe's governing body had
switched this game from Istanbul in the interests of safety following recent
terrorist attacks in Turkey.
And before the game, the Besiktas manager accused Chelsea of giving in to
terrorism by not wanting to play this final Group G clash in Istanbul.
Ranieri defended his players and praised the way they came through what
had been a testing trip.
'It was a difficult match, the atmosphere was fantastic and I am very
pleased with my players,' he said.
'It was difficult to play tonight because their crowd was fantastic, but
I was very pleased at the end of the match to listen to our 300 fans rather
than their 50,000.
'I saw Mansiz had a lot of blood, but I watched the action and I saw John
and Marcel jump for the ball. If they made contact, it was accidental.
'I was curious to see how we'd play tonight because of the strong
atmosphere and it was important to maintain our calm and play football, and
slow down the tempo.
'I asked my players to control their nerves, this was a big step and they
gave a great performance.'
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