​Chelsea boss, Maurizio Sarri, has hailed his side's fighting spirit in Thursday night's win at Slavia Prague, claiming the Blues can now grind out results even when they are not at their best. 


A late Marcos Alonso header handed the West London outfit a 1-0 win at Slavia Prague in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final. 


Sarri's men were not at their best for most of the match and were fortunate to bag all three points. The Italian, however, chose to look at the positives and hailed his side's commitment and ability to withstand pressure. 


"I'm really happy with the result, and also with the performance," Sarri said, as quoted by Sky Sports.


"In this moment we are able to suffer, and in the past we were not able to suffer in the difficult moments of a match. In the past when we were in trouble, we immediately conceded a goal. Now we are able to stay in trouble to fight and to suffer without conceding anything."


"We knew very well to play here is very difficult. The opponents are very physical, very aggressive, so we knew we had to face difficulties during the match. We were able to face them well, then in the second half we were able to play better."


"Now we need to think the second leg will be difficult. These opponents are also very dangerous away, like against Genk [where they won 4-1]. We need to be careful," he concluded.