6 days ago
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The main talking points and moments missed from an unforgettable evening for Chelsea at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona in Naples
When Joao Pedro made the decision to join Chelsea in July, in a deal worth £60million, the Brazilian would have dreamed of nights like this. Just 11 days after his transfer to the Blues, the 24-year-old announced himself properly to his new supporters by scoring the third goal in a famous Club World Cup final victory over Paris Saint-Germain.
It was an unforgettable afternoon for the former Brighton forward in New Jersey, but very much just the start in a Chelsea shirt. And while it has not been easy at times for Joao Pedro this season, his quality was crystal clear for everyone to see in Naples on Wednesday evening.
When Chelsea needed him most, Joao Pedro shone the brightest. Cole Palmer will get his plaudits - and deservedly so - but the Brazil international deserves the limelight.
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A stunning first goal got the Blues back level - but that wasn't enough. Chelsea needed to score another in order to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League and avoid that dreaded two-legged playoff tie next month. Liam Rosenior has barely had any time on the training ground with the squad he inherited from Enzo Maresca earlier this month and having a bit of time off will surely only benefit him and his players.
Rosenior will now have two free midweeks in February and he has Joao Pedro to thank for that. After some nice work from Palmer, who came on as a half-time substitution when Chelsea were trailing at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, the £60million man worked the ball into a dangerous position before sliding it past Alex Meret. The Napoli ultras behind the goal barely stopped chanting but there was an eerie silence after the Brazilian's second goal.
The price you pay for being named Player of the Match is not being able to fully celebrate with your teammates at the full-time whistle. Joao Pedro had numerous television commitments to attend to in the immediate aftermath of Chelsea's 3-2 win, meaning the rest of the team were off celebrating and applauding the supporters that made the trip to Naples while he was being interviewed.
While Napoli supporters flooded out of the stadium, Chelsea fans were told to stay behind and they got their moment with the man of the hour eventually. Joao Pedro went over to the travelling faithful to applaud their support and was greeted back with chants of his name. A special moment.
"I think I've had very, very good conversations with him [Joao Pedro] already," Rosenior said post-match. "Probably four [of them have been] in my office, I think he is sick of my office! I've said to him, if you play with intensity, with your quality, the quality comes out.
"The two goals are fantastic but the way he held the ball up for the team, the way he sprinted and started that press. The harder you work, the better you are as a player and I'm very, very happy to have Joao in our team."
Rosenior took a big risk in Naples. In a match of enormous magnitude, the Chelsea head coach went with a three-at-the-back formation; something we have not seen yet this season, even under Maresca. While Rosenior's system so far has seen Chelsea switch to a three-back in possession, it is a completely different challenge operating one while not having the ball.
In the first-half, it looked as if the Blues struggled to get to grips with it. Their pressing, for the most part, was off and Napoli were able to bypass their traps too easily.
"I wanted to go man-for-man all over the pitch," explained Rosenior when asked about the logic of his setup in Italy. "We knew we needed to win the game. I wanted to be really aggressive and Napoli were very clever after 20/25 minutes.
"I felt we won the ball back very high in good areas in the first 20 minutes. When they started to miss our press out and went a little bit more direct, the distances were a little bit bigger. We corrected that. We were still man-to-man in the second-half but we started a bit deeper with our press and I think that helped our compactness."
It bodes really well for Chelsea that Rosenior, who is still very inexperienced coaching-wise in the grand scheme of things, especially at this level, was able to turn the game on its head once he realised how Antonio Conte - one of the great modern day coaches - was getting the better of him.
In his post-match press conference, the reporters wanted to give Rosenior his flowers but he was in no mood to accept them. He was focused on the team's achievement and that speaks volumes about the character of the man BlueCo have taken a huge gamble on.
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