Willy Sagnol believes Chelsea got the Champions League exit they deserved for "not trying to play football" against Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday.
The Bordeaux coach will attempt to bring PSG back down to earth when
his side host Laurent Blanc's men on Sunday, but took his hat off to the
Ligue 1 champions for eliminating Jose Mourinho's team from Europe with
10 men.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic was sent off in the first half before Gary Cahill
later put Chelsea in front, only for David Luiz's header to take the
game into extra-time. Eden Hazard made it 2-1 to the Blues, but Thiago
Silva's late header saw PSG through to the quarter-finals on away goals,
with the tie ending 3-3 on aggregate.
In the aftermath of the game, Chelsea have been criticised for
surrounding referee to ensure Ibrahimovic received his marching orders
and their lack of ambition despite having a one-man advantage, with
Sagnol adding to their detractors.
"It was a game in which PSG's tactical discipline was very high," the
former France and Bayern Munich defender said at Friday's press
conference. "For me this wasn't a surprise as already in the first leg
PSG showed their greater quality.
"As a lover of football, it is regrettable that Chelsea didn't try to
play and PSG - before and after the red card - played very well and
really applied themselves. There was a real plan behind the way that
they played. Laurent Blanc can be very proud because he got the reward
his work deserved."
Sagnol's Bordeaux side are sat in sixth place ahead of the weekend
and the 37-year-old admitted his players should look at Blanc's men as a
template to follow as they look to make a push for European football in
the coming years.
"A game such as that is a goal for us here at Bordeaux. It can be
used as a motivating factor for players to work even more, in
anticipation of playing in the Champions League one day.
"It will be complicated against PSG. They drew 2-2 with Chelsea and
my players know what we have to do. We have to be better than Chelsea.
We will go for it because we don't know how fresh PSG are or if they
will rotate. We'll focus on our output and see what we can do."
PSG go into the game one point behind Ligue1 leaders Lyon in second place as they bid to retain their title.

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