“THE guy that kicked Hazard three times in 10 minutes impressed me, because I like that. No friendlies.”
Funnily enough, Jose Mourinho wasn't being facetious when asked his opinion of Sydney FC midfielder Terry Antonis in Chelsea's 1-0 win at ANZ Stadium on Tuesday night.
It wasn't just the combative Socceroo who drew praise from the master coach, with goalkeeper Vedran Janjetovic and rookie left-back Alex Gersbach also singled out, and according to Mourinho, the future is very bright for Australian football.
As was the case three days earlier with Tottenham, Graham Arnold's Sky Blues were far from embarra**ed against more-fancied opposition, and in the end it took an unstoppable shot from Loic Remy to separate the sides in front of more than 83,000 fans.
Antonis - the Sky Blues' best in the 1-0 loss to Tottenham on Saturday - again thrived on the big stage, and his industry and workrate didn't go unnoticed by arguably the world's best manager.
“(There are) No friendlies. I don't like the word ‘friendly',” Mourinho said in his post-match press conference.
“A match is a match. Of course some are more important than others, but that fellow in midfield (Antonis) that was really aggressive in playing for a result, impressed me.”
Janjetovic repelled the Blues several times, most notably to deny Diego Costa in the first half, while teenager Alex Gersbach not only nullified the threat of César Azpilicueta, but offered plenty going forward.
“The goalkeeper was good, he made a couple of good saves. The left-back, offensive, aggressive going forward but I don't have a lot of time to be searching for individualities,” Mourinho said.
“What I found in the team is that they know what they are doing, they are comfortable on the pitch, well organised, so the coach is good.”
So how does the A-League stack up against other competitions around the world, according to the three-time Premier League and two-time Champions League winner?
“I feel that obviously there is a difference in terms of the technical and tactical level of the players,” Mourinho said.
“We cannot find in Sydney FC, or even Australian football, you cannot find players like Eden Hazard or Diego Costa. But lots of young players, a good coach, good organisation, stability in the team.
“If I compare Sydney FC in my first time in Australia to the teams I found, for example in the MLS 15 years ago when I went to the States, I have to say that I was positive, impressed.
“If they go in the right direction, if the domestic competition, with the players that are in the country, not the ones in Europe, if the competition goes in the right direction, I like what I saw.”