Ramires defends Chelsea

Brazilian midfielder Ramires has protested that Chelsea did not play unduly negative football on their way to success this season, following criticism from Tostão amongst others. Ramires, 25, missed the Champions League final through suspension, but was highly influential in Chelsea’s maiden European Cup triumph.  The topic has been big news in Brazil this week, […]
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sambafoot_admin
2012-06-28 01:27:00

Brazilian midfielder Ramires has protested that Chelsea did not play unduly negative football on their way to success this season, following criticism from Tostão amongst others.

Ramires, 25, missed the Champions League final through suspension, but was highly influential in Chelsea’s maiden European Cup triumph. 

The topic has been big news in Brazil this week, with Corinthians advancing to the final of the Copa Libertadores in a similar manner, but the approach is not universally popular.

Ramires defended his side’s attitude to Radio Estadao ESPN: “This anti-football is not Chelsea’s style; we only played that way in those games against Barcelona. When we played against Napoli, we needed to score a goal and we did it, when almost nobody believed we would. If we tried to play as equals against Barcelona, we would have conceded five or six goals.

“We watched some videos of Barcelona and decided for that strategy. We knew we could beat them on counter-attack and we were happy to achieve that. If you don’t play that way, you can’t beat them. 

“It’s not only Chelsea that plays that way against Barcelona. We watched that game where Real Madrid beat them 2-1, playing the same way we did. Barcelona move the ball around a lot, tiring opponents that have to run after the ball. In our case, we scored that goal and then we took a defensive stance. If we always win playing that way, I’ll choose to win.”

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sambafoot_admin
June 27, 2012