Joe Cole singles out Chelsea star for praise after Champions League win over Napoli

Joe Cole praised Liam Rosenior for the ‘fantastic’ start to his reign as Chelsea manager after the Blues beat Napoli to advance to the next stage of the Champions League.

Chelsea’s place in the top-eight places looked under huge threat when Napoli came from behind to lead 2-1 at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium.

Enzo Fernandez fires the Premier League in front from the penalty spot but Napoli led at half-time through Antonio Vergara and Manchester United loanee Rasmus Hojlund.

The turnaround saw Chelsea briefly slip out of the top-eight but Joao Pedro’s second-half brace restored that position, Rosenior’s side ultimately finishing sixth to advance straight to the knockout stages and avoid the dreaded play-offs.

While Chelsea booked their place in the next round of the Champions League, the defeat sent Antonio Conte’s Napoli out of the competition, with the Serie A champions only finishing 30th out of 36 teams.

Cole praised Rosenior for taking Chelsea through and singled out Blues summer signing Pedro for praise, saying he was ‘right at it’ against the Italian giants.

Rosenior was hired to replace Enzo Maresca earlier this month and has attracted some criticism on social media despite overseeing largely positive results.

‘It’s been fantastic, superb,’ Cole said of Rosenior’s tenure to date. ‘A lot of people talk about what he’s been saying but you need to look at the team.

‘They’ve won five out of six games now and gone to Napoli and won. You can’t really knock that. The lads look happy.

‘Joao Pedro can sometimes look a bit on the periphery but he was right at it tonight.’

Cole added: ‘It was a great performance. This isn’t the Napoli team that was blitzing everyone in Serie A but it’s still an Antonio Conte team.

‘Liam is still getting his style of play in but the character was really impressive.

‘A Chelsea team who went behind could have got rolled over a few months ago so he’s instilled something in them.’

Ex-Premier League midfielder Leon Osman also heaped praise on Chelsea and £60m summer signing Pedro, saying: ‘They were absolutely tremendous goals from Joao Pedro.

‘Yes, I did think Chelsea would go there and win. I felt they needed a big statement sort of result.

‘Yes, Napoli are struggling with numbers and injuries that they’ve had but you just felt Chelsea wanted to go there and not just limp through.

‘You felt Chelsea knew they had to get out of there with a victory.’

Ex-Brighton striker Pedro was named Player of the Match out in Naples, with the UEFA Technical Observer saying he ‘made a match-winning contribution with two fine goals.’

Blues boss Rosenior, meanwhile, said: ‘It’s stressful during matches for the manager because you want to win, but overall like I told my players you have to enjoy these games and I am happy for the qualification.

‘I am very happy. We knew how difficult this game would be. I am happy with the players’ determination to win it and happy to be in the top eight.’

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