Edin Terzic claimed Chelsea produced their "best performance this year" despite falling to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of his Borussia Dortmund side.
Karim Adeyemi's sublime solo goal in the second half separated the teams at Westfalenstadion and means Dortmund will take a slender lead into the second leg of the Champions League last-16 tie. The result also turns up the heat on Graham Potter, who has won just nine of his 24 games in all competitions since taking over as Chelsea manager last September.
That is despite the Blues boasting a star-studded squad that was added to with many more hundreds of millions of pounds spent in the January transfer window. There is no denying Potter is under immense pressure, but Terzic had plenty of good things to say about how Chelsea played on Wednesday night.
"You can see the quality," the Dortmund boss told BT Sport. "I think it was maybe Chelsea's best performance this year. They were very good on the ball, especially in the second half. Chelsea have an incredible quality up front. There was a little bit of luck involved and we had an exceptional goalkeeper."
Although the scoreline might not have reflected it, there was a widespread consensus that Chelsea put in an improved display against Dortmund having endured a rotten start to 2023. The Blues have drawn their last three Premier League games and their only chance of silverware this season is the Champions League trophy, given they have been eliminated from the FA Cup and EFL Cup.
Potter saw green shoots during the defeat in Dortmund but criticised the way his players conceded when they were on top. "We have to do better," the Chelsea boss said. "We were pushing at the time [of the goal] and were the better team, so to concede in that manner is what we're disappointed in, but the players are honest.
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"They know they can do better with that. We have to help them, of course, but again, we'll probably focus on the positive, which was the performance was another step forward for us."
Reece James, Kalidou Koulibaly, Ben Chilwell and Ruben Loftus-Cheek were named in the starting XI for the first leg after making their respective returns from serious injuries. Potter was pleased with what he saw from the quartet, adding: "It isn't easy to pick up the speed of the Champions League, but I still think they did it really well.
"You've still got three new players coming in and again playing against a team that is in a good moment. So hopefully, I think we will improve and then in three weeks' time we can take the game at Stamford Bridge."
