Andre Villas-Boas: My players gave everyone a "slap in the face"

Andre Villas-Boas has said that his players proved their critics wrong by producing a clinical display in the Champions League this evening.

The Blues triumphed 3-0 against Valencia at Stamford Bridge to finish top of Group E and Villas-Boas spoke of his happiness after the game.

"I'm happy with the players, they worked very hard for this win," the 34-year-old told Sky Sports News.

"We managed to get the result that made us proud straight away at half time (leading 2-0 at the break) and guess what - we finished top of the group against all odds."

The West London side have not had their best start to a Premier League season and had to rely on Genk securing a draw against Leverkusen in the other group match to ensure top spot but Villas-Boas thinks they may have turned a corner recently.

"We've been improving a lot, there's been a lot of criticism to our players and I think they gave everybody a slap in the face today," he added.

Chelsea avoided the likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona in the first knockout round by finishing top of their group.