Chelsea 0-3 Manchester City: Guus Hiddink believes clinical Sergio Aguero made the difference

Guus Hiddink has rued Chelsea's mistakes in defence after they suffered a "bad" 3-0 defeat against Manchester City at Stamford Bridge on Saturday (16 April). The Dutch boss, nevertheless, believes that the scoreline was not completely fair, as the main difference between both teams was that City only "needed one-and-a-half chances to score one goal."

The Blues had a couple of chances to score in a thrilling start to the game but City's impressive counterattack condemned them to the second consecutive Premier League defeat. Sergio Aguero put Manuel Pellegrini's side ahead before half-time and scored further two in the second half to kill the game, the last one from the penalty spot after Thibaut Courtois faulted Fernandinho inside the area, with the keeper being sent off.

"It was of course a bad defeat," Hiddink said in the press conference. "We were playing a very strong team. Manchester City have proven that and it's not for nothing they're in the last four in Europe."

"We made some mistakes. We had control with some corners in the first half and we had already been warned twice that they could counter to harm us.

"It came from our corner and our advantage that they got the counter and made the first goal. The second goal was similar. It was a counter. That means we were in control but we didn't have the ultimate bite to kill it off."

"We had some half-chances - we didn't create open chances. The difference between us and Man City was that they needed one-and-a-half chances to score one goal."

Hiddink, nevertheless, insisted that the 3-0 defeat was not reflective of the display of Chelsea, although admitted they faced a very strong opponent.

"It's a difficult defeat. The 0-3 seems high and is high, but it's not that we were outplayed. It was three smart counter situations. There was not a big, big difference. The defeat is deserved but not so negative that we are now feeling desperate," Hiddink added.

"It's difficult when you're playing an extremely intelligent team. It's difficult to get in to a duel when they make short triangles. We managed to do that a few times in the first half and we got some half-chances."

"There was no lack of fighting spirit but it's difficult when you have intelligent players playing around you. We have to respect the quality of the opponent."