Tuesday, 4th February, 2014
Jose Mourinho cracked the Manchester City home code last night but gave the pre-match credit to club masseur Billy McCulloch following their 1-0 win.
The Blues became the first team to beat Manchester City at home this season, as Branislav Ivanovic scored in the first half, to add to their victory in the reverse fixture at Stamford Bridge.
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While many may have expected Manchester City to at least score a goal, Petr Cech came up with some good saves, with Mourinho also praising new signing Nemanja Matic.
However, it was McCulloch who became an unlikely hero for Chelsea, with Mourinho quoted by the club website as saying: "I didn't speak [before the match]. It was Billy.
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"He was screaming in his Scottish accent so much I didn't understand him. The players were clapping – okay, let's go. It was Billy's team-talk.
"The last time I spoke to the players was at midday. I'm serious. Billy was fantastic, I didn't understand but it looks like the players understood.
"We love the big games. When you love it maybe you feel extra-motivated. The best thing for our evolution is to play matches under pressure, to be close to the leaders, and today we came here and played against the leaders and we deserved it.
"We have beaten the best team twice. In the first game we won because Fernando [Torres] was bright; today we won because we were the best team."
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