Mourinho: Chelsea lack maturity to cope with difficult moments

Jose Mourinho believes his Chelsea squad lacks the “maturity” top cope with difficult moments after a shock loss to Basel at Stamford Bridge.

The Europa League winners had taken the lead against the Swiss champions on the stroke of half-time thanks to an Oscar strike despite an uninspiring opening 45 minutes in their Champions League Group E opener.

But Murat Yakin’s Basel pegged the Blues back through the impressive Mohamed Salah, before the visitors’ skipper Marco Streller scored an 81st-minute winner from a corner in front of the Shed End.

Mourinho’s men have now suffered back-to-back defeats after a defeat at Everton condemned Chelsea to their worst start to a Premier League campaign in the Roman Abramovich era.

But the 50-year-old insists the Blues squad will look to learn from their mistakes and become a more mature side capable of handling unexpected setbacks.

“I think this probably is not a team with such a maturity or a such a personality to face the difficult moments of the game,” said Mourinho.

“At Everton, we played amazing but they scored in the last minute of the first half. After that, I could feel the team was struggling a little bit in spite of dominating the game.

“Today was a little bit the same. We started with accepting the responsibility of playing. The team pressed them, played with the ball and tried to create. When the first negative moment arrives [the equaliser], the team shakes a little bit.”

He added: “Today we go home a little sad and supporters go home very sad, but tomorrow we have to go to training and prepare for the next match.

“In football, you have to work hard and believe in what you do, to be critical inside to improve things inside our group.

“We stick together and try to wake up the team for a smile.”