Boss Jose Mourinho hailed his side and played down the impact of his tactical changes as Chelsea fought back to draw 3-3 in their FA Cup tie with Tottenham.
He told BBC Sport: "I contributed with my substitutions but the players did it. It is all about the players.
"The team's character, spirit and belief are very important.
"The players' mentality was very, very good. We were almost out of the FA Cup when we were two goals down but at the end we are still in the competition."
However, Spurs boss Martin Jol felt that would not have been the case had his side taken their chances.
He said: "We played well in the first 20 minutes and we surprised them.
"If Mike Riley is in charge for the replay he needs to be better because today I thought his performance was not good"
"We scored goals and I felt their equaliser was a lucky goal - even their second was a cheap goal. We have to get that out of our system.
"They threw everything at us, with three strikers. I knew that it would have been over if we scored a fourth goal and we could have done that.
"I thought we were capable of scoring another goal - Aaron Lennon had a one-on-one and could have made it 4-1 and I felt we also should have had a penalty. But you have to be lucky."
Mourinho, too, was unhappy with referee Mike Riley and believes the official's performance did not match the quality of the match.
He said: "It was a magnificent game for all the supporters. There were two magnificent teams out there but the third team, the referee, was not magnificent.
"If Mike Riley is in charge for the replay he needs to be better because today I thought his performance was not good."