Mikel Obi gets Praises from Coach Mourinho.

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has named Mikel Obi as one of the outstanding players in the Blues 1-0 victory over hosts Sydney FC in their post-season friendly in Australia on Tuesday.

Mikel, who did not enjoy enough first-team appearance with the London club in their last season’s campaign, played in the entire duration of the game, but teenage defender Temitayo Aina was on the bench throughout.


“I’m happy with the performance of my senior players because it’s been a long season, in fact very long,” Mourinho said on Chelsea’s website.

“There were some performances from people like Ivanovic, Terry and Mikel where they tried to play football and the result could have been completely different.”

Mikel had earlier expressed his pleasure at seeing some 10,000 supporters turn out to watch their training in Sydney.