Christian Pulisic says belief never wavered despite Ajax’s big lead on Tuesday night, and now the American is looking forward to a huge fixture in Valencia later this month.
Many would have written the Blues off when Donny van de Beek put Ajax 4-1 up early in the second half, but a stirring fightback ensued, something Christian Pulisic and his team-mates had never written off. By the final whistle of an extraordinary encounter, we had become only the third English side in Champions League history to get a result having been three goals behind.
Pulisic revealed Frank Lampard’s words during the interval helped keep heads high and faith intact.
‘He gives us confidence, and he is the one who pushes us,’ said Pulisic, who was fouled for the first penalty Jorginho converted.
‘He told us at half-time we would create chances and we would still win the game. We believed we could do it.
‘You can see when you put a team under pressure like we did, it’s not easy. I felt we were dominating most of the second half and we had to keep going.
‘We showed a lot of resilience and a lot of fight. Being down 4-1 and to think we were still able to come back is crazy. It says a lot about our team. Anything is possible, that’s our mentality.’
The result, coupled with Valencia’s 4-1 victory over Lille, leaves Group H incredibly tight, with three teams at the top on seven points. We head to the Mestalla next knowing a two-goal win would send us through, but defeat would likely leave qualification out of our hands.
‘It’s going to be a huge game for us,’ stressed Pulisic. ‘We just have to go there and get a result, and we are looking great to go through.
‘It’s going to be really tight. It’s makes those next games that much more important. We know what we are capable of, and we just need to keep going.’
Read: Jorginho's view of the game