Mourinho: Abraham and Belotti were disaster in the first half

kept their hopes of qualification to the knockouts alive with a 1-1 draw. away to Real Betis. on Thursday night. Andrea Belotti's second-half goal canceled out Sergio Canales' first-half strike.

Betis who beat Roma at the Stadio Olimpico last week is at top of the Group with 10 points after four games. Ludogorets is second with seven points and Roma has four points. Helsinki also has one point.

“It was a game with great pressure, it was not a group game, it was worth a play-off. If we lost today, we were out,”

Mourinho told Sky Sport Italia.

“Going into the break a goal down, that is real pressure. Usually, you only sense that in a knockout phase. With all the injuries, suspensions, fatigue, playing against a team with fresh legs, who changed six players from their last game, having the heart to raise the level in the second half… This point gives us life.

“We might even have had the quality to risk more in the final 10-15 minutes, but the important thing was to play with our heads today. We controlled it well, we are alive, there are two games to play and win.

“If we don’t win any of those, we are out. That is good, because it means our destiny is in our hands. We do not need to wait for any other result to go our way.”

Mourinho started both

and

for the first time this season but after the game admit he is not happy with their performances.

“It was a disaster in the first half, really, really bad. They didn’t do what I asked. They came off at half-time with red ears because I was shouting at them so much.

“It was better after the break, not just for the goal, but also because they worked together.”

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