"But physically and mentally we were better in the second half."
Chelsea handler Avram Grant was relieved at taking a point against Schalke 04, but was not relishing the task of taking The Blues to Norway next time out as he seeks to deliver an elusive Champions League trophy to Russian owner Roman Abramovich.
"The result is not bad," said Grant, who lost goalkeeper Petr Cech with a calf injury at half-time.
"It is always difficult to get a result here, we didn't play our best game."
However, Grant can take heart from the words of fellow group rivals Valencia's newly installed coach Ronald Koeman's words after their 2-0 defeat to Rosenborg -- as the Spanish side slipped to bottom in the group and appeared to concede that they were out of the race to finish in the top two.
"With this result, things have become complicated," the former PSV Eindhoven handler said. "Nothing is impossible but things are going to be very difficult from now on."
For Benitez things got marginally easier.
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