Owen Hargreaves was impressed by the performance of a Chelsea player against Benfica in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
The Blues earned a hard-fought 1-0 win on Jose Mourinho’s return to Stamford Bridge to get their first three points of their Champions League campaign.
Though Enzo Maresca’s team were far from their commanding best on the night, they did just about enough to get the better of their opponents.
Given the games are coming thick and fast at the moment, Enzo Maresca made a number of changes from the side that lost against Brighton.
But one player who retained his place in the starting XI is winger Pedro Neto, and the player proved his worth as he played a huge part in the goal that gave the Blues the win.
The Portuguese has become an important player for Maresca, and is Chelsea’s most senior winger at this point in time.
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Owen Hargreaves lauds Pedro Neto’s contribution against Benfica
Speaking after the game, former Manchester United midfielder Owen Hargreaves could not stop praising Pedro Neto’s performance against Benfica.
“I thought he was probably Chelsea’s best player,” he told TNT Sports.
“He’s one of those, you can just get it to him, and he can just make things happen. I think he’s really positive.
“He’s so explosive, he’s so quick. This is the one, he just whips in a fabulous ball, the right-back over covers, and Garnacho does great and puts it back into the box, and Rios puts it into the net.”
“It feels like it’s been Neto who is the one who’s creating.”
Neto has established himself as one of Chelsea’s most creative players and in the absence of Cole Palmer, the onus is on him to create and he seems to be embracing that additional responsibility so far.
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