Cole picks out ‘best player by a mile’ for Chelsea as ‘unsung hero’ stars vs Mourinho’s Benfica

Former Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole reckons Pedro Neto was the Blues’ “best player by a mile” in a 1-0 win over Benfica on Tuesday night.

The Blues got their first Champions League points of the season with an own goal from Benfica defender Richard Rios enough to beat the Portuguese side 1-0 at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night.

Chelsea had only won one of their previous five matches in all competitions before their fixture against Benfica with rumours that Enzo Maresca could be under a bit of pressure.

Joao Pedro was sent off late on as Chelsea rode their luck with Benfica missing some good chances to take their first points of the league phase of the Champions League.

And Cole reckons Neto was by far the best player on the pitch for Chelsea with the Portugal international becoming an “unsung hero” for the Blues.

Cole said on TNT Sports: “Neto has been brilliant, he’s the unsung hero of this Chelsea team, the fans will tell you that.

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“He delivers and is always positive. He’s been Chelsea’s best player tonight. He’s a bright spark very consistent. He’s fast becoming a fans’ favourites 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.”

Cole’s fellow former England international team-mate Owen Hargreaves added on Neto: “I thought he was Chelsea’s best player.

“He makes things happens, he’s so positive and explosive and quick. That’s the thing I like about him. It feels like Neto was the one creating a lot of the chances.

“Pedro Neto was by far the best player on the pitch. He was the star of the show for me.”

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Reacting to the win, Neto said: “We knew the difficulties we had in the first game and we tried to work hard to manage those difficulties and today was the resilience of the team that came through.

“I think we had a very good game. In the end we could have controlled it a bit more with the quality of what we had but in the end we have the three points.

“It’s a tough team to face at home, we knew we needed to work hard, we did well.”

Alejandro Garnacho started against Benfica after moving to Chelsea from Manchester United in the summer and pundit Ally McCoist gave his verdict on the 21-year-old’s display, he said: “I think he’s done alright.

“He did well for the goal clearly but he was overshadowed by his teammate on the other flank. He’s done fine but Pedro Neto was the pick of the bunch for me tonight. He’s been terrific.”

On Chelsea’s performance, McCoist added: “It was all about the result. It was important Chelsea got the three points and they did that but not a lot more than that.

“Benfica didn’t do enough with the chances but a massive three points for Chelsea. The result was far more important than the performance.”