Azpilicueta defends Mount and Abraham after Jose Mourinho criticism

Chelsea captain Cesar Azpilicueta has defended the performances of Mason Mount and Tammy Abraham in the aftermath of the Blues’ embarrassing 4-0 loss at Manchester United. The pair were impressive during the course of pre-season and they could not replicate their performance during the Premier League opener at Old Trafford.

As such, ex-Blues boss Jose Mourinho had criticised the selection of the young duo while speaking for Sky Sports, but Azpilicueta has no concerns regarding the same. In a report covered by Goal.com, Azpilicueta said that Mount and Abraham were picked on the basis of strong pre-season performances and the team trusts them to do the job.

He added that the youngsters have the opportunity to learn from every game and hopefully, the entire squad can comeback stronger after a forgetful trip to Manchester, he said: "If they are here it is because they deserve to be. They are fighting in every training session. We trust in them. All the boys, they train to play for the Chelsea first team since they were young and now we have a massive opportunity to create a fantastic group, to learn from every game. Obviously everyone would like to start in a better way but we have to face the reality and become stronger from it."

Chelsea were the dominating side during the recent league opener against the Red Devils but a needless penalty conceded by Kurt Zouma meant that United took the lead in the 18th minute. Thereafter, the west London giants continued to dominate the proceedings in terms of the chances created but United took over the game during the final 30 minutes where they scored three counter-attacking goals where Azpilicueta was largely at fault. The Capital outfit are now set to face Liverpool in the UEFA Super Cup on Wednesday night and they need to produce a much better performance to stay in the game with Jurgen Klopp’s men.