CHELSEA manager Avram Grant admitted it was not one of Chelsea's best performances under his tenure but he remained satisfied with a point against Schalke in Gelsenkirchen.

Chelsea rode their luck to claim a vital point, which kept them top of Group B.

Had Chelsea come away with all three points, then they would have qualified for the next phase following Rosenborg's victory over Valencia in Spain.

One blight for Grant was a first-half injury to goalkeeper Petr Cech. The Czech international could not return for the second half and Grant could not say for how long Cech would be sidelined.

Grant said: 'He could not continue in the second half. How bad the injury is, we need to wait and see. It is a calf injury and I asked the doctor if he could continue and he couldn't. But Carlo Cudicini came on and played well.'

Now, Grant, who'll probably miss Cech when Chelsea host Everton on Sunday, is confident that his side can finish the job of reaching the next phase by winning one of its remaining two games against Rosenborg away and Valencia at home.

Grant added: 'The Champions League is not the (Premiership). It is another competition. You need to fight for the result and it is not easy to play away from home.

CONFIDENT

'We are in first place and everything is in our hands - and I am very happy and confident about that. But we need to continue our job because it will not be easy.

'I don't think we defended so badly. It was not a bad game. It was not our best performance but not a bad game for us.'

Schalke coach Mirko Slomka was happy with his team's performance and knew that better finishing would have earned them a renowned victory.

Slomka said: 'We showed a lot of passion and stuck to our tactical instructions.

'We knew how dangerous Chelsea could be. But we had lots of chances and were well-organised. I have to praise my players.

'We tried to learn from the first game in London, where we had problems with their full-backs getting forward.

'But, tonight, our full-backs were the ones going forward. I think Chelsea didn't defend as well as they should have done because we were so good going forward.' - PA Sport.