Chelsea Goal Keeper Begovic: Take the point

Asmir Begovic admitted it was not an ideal introduction to Chelsea life, but was pleased with the side’s character in earning a draw against Swansea.
Goalkeeper Begovic, a summer signing from Stoke City, was on the bench for yesterday’s Premier League opener, but was called into action 36 minutes from time when Thibaut Courtois was harshly sent off for a foul inside the area by referee Michael Oliver.
He was beaten by the resultant penalty, but Begovic made a couple of key saves to keep us in the game, and will have been happy with his display. He admitted afterwards though that he wished his debut had come in better circumstances.
‘No, not ideal at all,’ he said. ‘You can’t predict these things, it’s one of those things where you’re thrown in there and try and do your best.
‘It was unfortunate with the penalty. I saw it in real time from the bench. It was a difficult one to make out. I think it was harsh to send him off, our guys were covering Thibaut.
‘When you go down to 10 men it puts you on the back foot, but we stuck together well, showed good resilience and kept it to the two goals they scored. It was a decent point in the end. We’ll take the point and move on to next week.’
The Bosnian international also felt we could have emerged with all three points with a little more luck.
‘A couple of chances could have gone differently, Fabianski made a good save from Hazard,’ he pointed out. ‘We wanted to get the three points going into the game. Ultimately we got one due to circumstances and we move on to next week.
‘We’ll see what the result means as the season goes on but we tried our best. Obviously Swansea played well and are a good side, so it took a lot out of us to take the point.’
We face Manchester City next Sunday, with Begovic set to start if Courtois’ suspension is upheld.
‘I came here to be part of this team, be successful and contribute,’ said Begovic. ‘I want to play as many games as I can, so I look forward to next week.’