"In the first half we didn’t play well," he told Sky Sports. "After their goal we played very well and normally we should win the game, but when you don’t play well for 90 minutes you risk, and in the last 30 minutes when we played really well, intense, and creative and with a big desire to win and had many chances to do it their goalkeeper was magnificent."
Mourinho brought on Costa and Oscar at half-time and believes his decision to change the make-up of his team was vindicated.
"I was not happy with the team and I was not happy with the performance, I changed at half-time with the conviction that the team was going to improve and I was proven right.
"They scored and their belief was high and the pressure on our team…the players start feeling it a little bit but as I say we created a lot of chances and the goalkeeper was really really good."
The Portuguese was also delighted with Hazard, who was foiled by keeper Jasmin Handanovic in a one-on-one situation before seeing his spot-kick saved.
"When a player plays as well as Eden Hazard did, for me he was absolutely fantastic, by far the best player of my team. A player with a performance like this can miss a penalty and can still be the best player on my team. We paid the price for a not good first half, and their goalkeeper was fantastic."
Replays showed that Costa's disallowed goal should have stood as Cesc Fabregas was level with the last defender, but Mourinho would not be drawn on referee Daniele Orsato, though he did hint at his unhappiness.
"I think we deserve to win but with this referee I have a long story from my Italian times but I don’t want to go in that direction. It’s also important to praise a team with a different power than we have, they gave everything and played very well for their point."
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