Benitez draws on positives

Chelsea boss Rafael Benitez was delighted with his side’s 6-1 victory over Nordsjaelland, despite the Champions League holders bowing out.

With the club relying on Shakhtar Donetsk to prevent Juventus from winning in the other Group E game, the Blues thrashed their Danish opponents in vain as an Oleksandr Kucher own goal 10 minutes into the second half sent the Serie A side through as group winners.

But Benitez was keen to look at the positives, highlighting Chelsea’s attacking prowess, while looking ahead to the club’s Europa League campaign in the New Year.

“I think always when you win it is a positive. When it is at home it is even better,” the Spaniard told Sky Sports.

“The way we won, we had 32 attempts and 18 on target, is really good.

“When you win you have to be happy but at same time we are disappointed as we didn’t progress. At least we showed the level and quality we asked for.

“We now have to think about Sunderland [on Saturday] and the Europa League. But the game was so good today and we can see a lot of positives for the future. We pressed well, we created chances and scored a lot of goals.”

Fernando Torres notched two goals during the game, and came close to completing his hat-trick, and Benitez is adamant the much-maligned striker can keep on progressing if his team-mates continue to forge open opportunities.

“If you ask about Fernando also he scored goals. He has to score. He was playing well and the team was helping him. If we create chances he will score goals,” he added.

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