Inter Milan boss Jose Mourinho insists Chelsea hardly landed a glove on them during last night's 2-1 win.

Diego Milito opened the scoring after three minutes, while Esteban Cambiasso quickly cancelled out Salomon Kalou's equaliser in the Champions League first-leg clash at the San Siro.

"It is a victory that means a lot and means nothing, it depends on the second leg. It's half-time, we are in front and have 90 minutes to play at Stamford Bridge," Mourinho said of the 2-1 win.

"Chelsea have their ambitions of changing the result, we have ours to reach the quarters. I am more optimistic now than earlier today, as we are in front. Before it was 0-0.

"Don't forget in recent years Inter failed to win at home against Liverpool, Manchester United and Valencia. Inter hadn't won the first leg of a knockout in a long time and defeated a side that was unbeaten in 14 Champions League games."

Mourinho added: "We wanted to dominate the match. Chelsea were losing after three minutes, so obviously they had a very strong reaction in line with their quality.

"Statistics can lie in football. Shots on goal count despite not really going anywhere near the net.

"I can only remember Didier Drogba hitting the bar, Julio Cesar's save on Frank Lampard and that was basically it. We controlled the game and had three or four genuine scoring opportunities with two goals.

"It is tough for a Coach to communicate with his players during a game, especially with the full stadium, and that is frustrating. A Coach wants to make his voice heard and it's difficult.

"Thankfully the fourth official realised I was just trying to communicate and let me wander out of my area without sending me off."