Owen Hargreaves claims the wrong Chelsea player won Player of the Match vs Benfica

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Chelsea recorded an important 1-0 victory at home to Benfica this week in Europe. Even though they were not at their fluent best, Blues defender Marc Cucurella was awarded UEFA’s Player of the Match award for his individual display.

The Blues picked up their first points of this season’s Champions League by edging out the Portuguese giants at Stamford Bridge.

Marc Cucurella, 27, put in an all-action performance at left-back, flying up and down the wing for 90 minutes. He was selected as the Player of the Match for the type of display that Chelsea supporters have become used to seeing from him.

Cucurella, who Darren Bent rates as the Premier League’s best left-back, has become such a consistent performer for Enzo Maresca’s side.

On Saturday evening, the Blues host Liverpool in the Premier League for their final match before the international break. With some key players absent, we’re looking towards the likes of Cucurella to inspire this young side.

• READ MORE: Marc Cucurella said last month he ‘struggled a lot’ against attacker Chelsea were favourites to sign in 2022

Owen Hargreaves thought Pedro Neto was even better than Marc Cucurella vs Benfica

According to Owen Hargreaves, Chelsea winger Pedro Neto, 25, should have won the Player of the Match award over teammate Cucurella.

During the televised coverage of Chelsea against Benfica on TNT Sports, Hargreaves said in his post-match analysis: “Neto was by far the best player on the pitch. I think Cucurella got it from whoever gave it, but I thought Neto was the star of the show.”

In fairness, Neto was a real bright spark for the Blues on the right wing, offering a major threat when cutting infield on his stronger left foot. The own goal from Benfica’s Richard Rios actually came via some tidy work from Neto in the build-up.

After Tuesday’s Champions League fixture, Portuguese media showered Neto with praise because of his individual display.

Without injured attacker Cole Palmer, the pressure is on the likes of Neto to be a senior figure in the Chelsea attack. It feels like he’s one of the key starters in Maresca’s team, whether that’s from the left or right wing.

The awkward conversation about Pedro Neto

Even though we’ve enjoyed large spells of what we’ve seen from Neto in the 2025/26 season so far, the skilful wide player has been lacking when it comes to end product.

It feels awkward to criticise Neto because he always runs his socks off for Chelsea and looks bright. However, we need him to start delivering more goal contributions, especially when the likes of Palmer and Liam Delap are out injured.

Benfica manager Jose Mourinho called Neto one of the world’s best wingers, but we feel he needs to back that up with regular goals and assists.