Pedro Neto reveals Chelsea dressing room's mindset as he makes trophy admission

Chelsea booked their place in the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night with a hard-fought 3-1 win at Cardiff

Pedro Neto says Chelsea are focused on winning trophies as Enzo Maresca’s side continue to fight on four fronts.

Chelsea booked their place in the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night with a hard-fought 3-1 win at Cardiff.

Despite the controversy sparked by Maresca’s weekend outburst that he had suffered his “worst 48 hours” at Stamford Bridge “because many people didn’t support me and the team”, and his subsequent refusal to clarify those comments, Chelsea continue to move along quite nicely.

As well as their Carabao Cup progress, the Blues are fourth in the Premier League, currently in a Champions League knockout-round spot and start their FA Cup campaign at Charlton next month.

“We are Chelsea, we want to win trophies,” Neto told the club website after coming off the bench at Cardiff to score his sixth goal of the season.

“Our mindset is to win all the games. It’s really important. The manager said in the last 18 months this is the third semi-final we had. So we are really happy with that. We got the win, so we are already looking for the next game.”

Chelsea, who will again be without Estevao at Newcastle on Saturday after the Brazil winger reported a muscular problem before the Cardiff tie, were made to work hard for victory in the Welsh capital.

Maresca had to turn to a well-stocked bench after a goalless first half in which the League One leaders shaded matters. All three Chelsea goals came from substitutes, with Alejandro Garnacho scoring twice and Neto restoring the lead after David Turnbull’s diving header had restored parity 15 minutes from time.

Portugal winger Neto said: “It (victory) was the concentration. It was the will of winning this game. We wanted to win a lot this game.

“Then we had guys on the pitch who could make the difference and Garna (Garnacho) helped us a lot as well with two goals. Sometimes we were under control, but sometimes it’s the small details that make the difference.

“Maybe we lost a bit of concentration because we had a lot of corners in that time in the game and the first time they went up after the corners, they score.”

Cardiff will return to League One action, where they are four points clear at the summit, heartened by an impressive display in front of their first full house since being in the Premier League six years ago.

“I think it gives us an insight into what it takes to play at the level the opposition are playing at,” Cardiff manager Brian Barry-Murphy said.

“We believe some of our players can definitely get to that level. It just leaves you wanting more and fuelling the fire of wanting to repeat it and do more and more.”