Former Chelsea man, Joe Cole, has hailed the club’s ‘unsung hero’ as the Blues beat Benfica 1-0 and recorded their first win in the Champions League on Tuesday.
An own goal from Benfica defender, Richard Rios was all Enzo Maresca’s men needed to secure all three points at Stamford Bridge.
Prior to Tuesday’s game, the Blues had been defeated in three previous games against Bayern Munich, Manchester United and Brighton.
Benfica squandered a number of chances to register their first point of the Champions League.
Chelsea suffered another red card on Tuesday, making it three red cards in their last three games, with Joao Pedro being sent off.
Cole said he was impressed by the performance of winge,r Pedro Neto.
“Neto has been brilliant, he’s the unsung hero of this Chelsea team, the fans will tell you that” Cole said on TNT Sports.
“He delivers and is always positive. He’s been Chelsea’s best player tonight. He’s a bright spark and very consistent.
“He’s fast becoming a fans’ favourite at Stamford Bridge. He was Chelsea’s best player tonight by a mile.
“It was a decent performance from Chelsea, it wasn’t spectacular and I’ve seen them play better.
“But the most important thing was the result, they needed that win and now they can prepare for a massive game against Liverpool at the weekend.”