Barnsley head coach Valerien Ismael declared himself “really proud” of his team after their defeat to Chelsea in the fifth round of the FA Cup.
The Reds produced an exceptional performance against the Premier League giants but eventually went down 1-0 at Oakwell.
Tammy Abraham scored the decisive goal midway through the second half, tapping in from Reece James’ pass for an under-par Chelsea side.
The Blues struggled in the first half in particular, with Barnsley’s high press and intensity putting them on the back foot.
And the Championship side created a host of chances to win it, with Callum Brittain being denied at point-blank range by goalkeeper Kepa and having another effort deflected wide by his own team-mate.
Even after going behind there was still plenty of fight in them, with substitute Michael Sollbauer having a header cleared off the line by scorer Abraham.
In the end it was not enough as Chelsea’s pedigree told, but Ismael came away from the match more confident than ever in his side’s abilities – and proclaimed that they “can compete at that level”.
He told The72 after the match: “First of all for us the most important thing tonight was the performance, to compete at that level.
“We had questions before the game – can we compete at that level and force our principles against one of the best teams in the world? We did it in the first half especially, we were the best team and had two big chances to score.
“In the second half Chelsea changes their shape and we had to adapt… We were punished with that goal, but after we kept pushing, I think we can score two times, we have two more chances.
“We stayed true to ourselves tonight. All the people who know Barnsley, it was clear and visible that we stayed true to our way to play football. It is a good feeling for the guys to see that they can compete at that level and make it unpleasant for Chelsea.
“We can compete at that level, we can be unpleasant against Chelsea, and we can take that confidence into the league.”
However, he admitted that one of the biggest lessons for Barnsley to take away from the match is just how clinical the top sides are.
“At that level you need to score if you want to win,” Ismael added. “It’s such a tight game, it’s really difficult. But it’s exactly like we wanted, we keep the game alive until the end, we fight until the end, we controlled a lot of situations and didn’t concede a lot of chances.”
