Antonio Conte Has No Regrets Over Playing Andreas Christensen Against Barcelona

Chelsea may have almost played the perfect game against Barcelona at Stamford Bridge, last night, when on another night Willian's two thunderous first half strikes would have flown inside both posts rather than cracking against them, but still Antonio Conte had to deal with questions about his team selection, despite the impressive nature of his team's performance.

Eyebrows were initially raised when neither Alvaro Morata or new arrival Olivier Giroud were named in the Italian's starting XI, but as it happened, neither player would have likely offered more than the likes of Willian or Eden Hazard did.

Yet, it wasn't Conte's choice of attacker that came under scrutiny during his post-match press conference, but instead his decision to start Andreas Christensen in place of Gary Cahill.

The 21-year-old's inclusion against Barca really shouldn't have come as much of a surprise given how much he has impressed during his 31 appearances for the Blues, this term and especially given how under par Cahill has been in recent games.

But Christensen's performance was marred by a rather catastrophic error that led to Lionel Messi's 75th minute equaliser for Barcelona. The youngster played a misplaced pass across the edge of his own 18-yard box, which allowed Andres Iniesta to break into the box and lay on Messi to tuck a lovely finish past a helpless Thibaut Courtois.

But when the question was posed to Conte about whether he regretted starting Christensen, the Italian offered a staunch reply defending the 21-year-old when speaking to Sky Sports.

"No, absolutely not. I think Christensen's performance was a very good performance, an incredible performance. We are talking about a player who is only 21 years old here.

"It's great that he is able to play this game with maturity and personality. I am very happy. He was one of the best players tonight.

"It is very difficult to pick one player or another player but I think Christensen played a top game. I am very pleased with his performance."

Conte's words will no doubt provide a boost for Christensen after his mistake, which really shouldn't overshadow the fact that the defender still enjoyed a fine game at the heart of the Blues' defence and has been terrific for the Premier League champions all season.

Topics: Football News, Chelsea, Football, Champions League, Antonio Conte

Joe Baiamonte

Northerner. Assistant Editor of SPORTbible. Studied Journalism and Broadcasting in a portakabin on a car park of Salford University for three years. Believes football peaked with Serie A in the '90s and strong-arms pro wrestling references into as many articles as possible. Neymar once took 50 euros off me during a game of poker.

@JoeBaia