Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has lavished praise on centre-back Kurt Zouma for his sparkling display in their League Cup win over Liverpool yesterday.
In the second leg of their League Cup semi-final, Chelsea defeated Liverpool 1-0 courtesy of a Branislav Ivanovic goal in the first half of extra time. A 1-1 draw at Anfield in the reverse fixture meant that the Londoners qualify for the final with a 2-1 aggregate result.
Zouma was signed by Chelsea from Saint-Etienne in January 2014 and was subsequently loaned out to the Ligue 1 outfit. He finally arrived at Stamford Bridge at the start of the current season.
The French international was selected ahead of experienced Gary Cahill in Mourinho’s line-up against Liverpool yesterday and the youngster justified his manager’s faith with his sparkling display.
Yesterday’s start was Zouma’s 13th appearance for Chelsea in all competitions this season, and the Portuguese was effusive in his praise for the youngster for his performance in helping the Londoners keep a clean sheet.
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“He was very good. Playing against [Raheem] Sterling is something nobody enjoys, the kid is very good, very quick”, Mourinho told the club site.
“Zouma coped so well with that, Brendan [Rodgers] brought on [Mario] Balotelli and put Sterling on the sides. Zouma is very quick, fast and he’s learnt positional play.
“Despite the fact he’s 20, he’s very mature.
“In the Premier League he hasn’t started many matches, but in the Capital One Cup he’s played every game, also in the FA Cup. At this moment we have three central defenders and we are fine”, Mourinho declared.
Chelsea will face the winner of the other semi-final between Sheffield United and Tottenham Hotspur in the League Cup final at Wembley on 1st March. Spurs head into this evening's second leg with a slender one-goal advantage.
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