Chelsea captain Reece James admitted his side failed to reach their usual standards after Wednesday night’s 2-2 Champions League draw with Qarabag in Azerbaijan.

Goals from Estevão and Alejandro Garnacho gave the Blues a share of the points, but James conceded that the performance was below par.

“Yes, it’s disappointing,” James said after the match. “Coming here, we wanted to win, of course. We set up strong and started well, got ourselves in front, and then it’s disappointing to let it slip.

The goals we conceded weren’t good from our perspective — we gave away a penalty and another goal that we really gifted them.”

The skipper admitted that Chelsea’s inability to manage key moments cost them the victory.

“We didn’t adapt well enough to certain situations, and the goals we conceded came from our own sloppy play,” he continued. “That’s something we need to improve on collectively. The momentum changed with their goal, and we didn’t do enough.

We had chances towards the end to win the game, but we didn’t take them, and we only have ourselves to blame for not securing all three points.”

James also praised teenage sensation Estevão, who found the net once again to continue his strong start to life at Chelsea.

“Estevão is an amazing player and he has the world at his feet,” James said. “He’s still so young, and it’s on us to keep him grounded, protect him, and make sure he stays healthy. He’s got a lot of development still to come, but we’re super happy with his performances and to have him here with us.”