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Chelsea boss Benitez positive despite CL exit

Rafael Benitez is remaining in a positive frame of mind despite his Chelsea side failing to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League.

Shakhtar Donetsk losing 1-0 to Juventus in Ukraine forced the reigning European champions to finish third on the Group E table despite winning 6-1 at home over Nordsjaelland.

Even though they will now compete in the Europa League, Benitez felt the performance on Wednesday night brought about plenty of positives for the Southwest London club.

"I think always when you win it is a positive. When it is at home it is even better," said the Spaniard. "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.

"If you ask 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."

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Andrew Slevison
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