Cech suffers the Blues again

Published Apr. 7, 2011 12:56 p.m. ET

foxsports

Petr Cech has claimed it was 'Groundhog Day' for Chelsea after watching them suffer another controversial Champions League defeat.

The Blues lost their quarter-final first leg 1-0 against Manchester United last night after being denied what appeared a clear-cut stoppage-time penalty when Patrice Evra chopped down Ramires.

It was the latest decision to go against Chelsea in their long quest to be crowned champions of Europe since Roman Abramovich bought the club almost eight years ago.

Goalkeeper Cech said: "I don't want to speak about it because, every year, it is the same thing.

"We are obviously disappointed because everyone could see the incident.

"The main point is that the person who matters most is the referee and if he doesn't give it, you don't get the penalty and that's what happened."

However, Cech insisted Chelsea had themselves to blame as much as Spanish official Alberto Undiano Mallenco.

"We lost the game 1-0, which is not only because of that - it was because we didn't get a goal anyway throughout the game," he said.

"We created enough to score a goal and that's what made the difference.

"We had plenty of shots on target and we didn't score."

United have never lost a European tie after winning the first leg away and Cech admitted Chelsea faced an uphill task in Tuesday's return at Old Trafford.

"When you are losing 1-0 at half-time in the tie, you can still win it, even though you have to play away," he said.

"Now the result means that we allow them to play the same type of game at Old Trafford.

"They will defend and wait for the counter-attack and wait for their chances.

"That is their main strength and it makes the tie difficult for us.

"We go there and we will have a go.

"We want to do better and win every game - we would like to have a perfect performance all the time but that is very difficult to do.

"We know that everybody gave everything.

"It was not the best of performances but we know we have to go there and perform well to get something out of the game."