For the second season running PSG knocked Chelsea out of the
Champions League and Guus Hiddink rued Diego Costa's second-half
withdrawal.
Guus Hiddink believes the loss
of Diego Costa to injury in the second half proved costly as
Chelsea??were knocked out of the Champions League at the last-16 stage
by Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday.
Spain striker
Costa put in a hugely impressive performance in the first half at
Stamford Bridge and scored the equaliser to cancel out Adrien Rabiot's
16th-minute opener for the visitors.
However,
Costa - who was missing in Saturday's 1-1 Premier League draw against
Stoke City - suffered a recurrence of a hip injury and was replaced by
youngster Bertrand Traore on the hour mark.
PSG
sensed an opportunity and the evergreen Zlatan Ibrahimovic - sent off
against Chelsea at the same stage last season - gained redemption by
turning in Angel Di Maria's cross in the 67th minute to secure a 2-1 win
and 4-2 aggregate triumph for the Ligue 1 champions.
"Yeah,
he [Costa] made a beautiful goal of course, but we knew he was not
totally fit," Chelsea boss Hiddink told BT Sport. "He was desperate to
play, he did what he could but was not fully fit.
"You
saw the difference between the squads when we had to bring young guys
on and they have Edinson Cavani to come in. Although, I must say that we
had young Kenedy, making a [full] Champions League debut at left-back
and he was excellent.
"We'll see [how serious
Costa's injury is]. I hope it is not long term for Diego. I must pay
respect for him, he desperately wanted to play. He had a very good
game."
Chelsea's defeat means their last hope of
silverware this season is in the FA Cup, while their chances of
qualifying for next season's Champions League are increasingly slim as
they are 10 points adrift of fourth-placed Manchester City in the
Premier League.
"We knew it was a difficult season
for Chelsea when I came in last December," Hiddink added. "We were
panicking because we were in relegation danger.??
"Chelsea's
target was to get out of relegation which we did in short space of
time, but it is difficult to get fourth place and the Champions
League."??
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