Jorginho was full of praise for Chelsea teammate Mateo Kovacic after his performance against Red Bull Salzburg yesterday.
Chelsea secured their place in the Champions League last-16 phase by winning 2-1 away to Salzburg last night, ending an impressive 40-match unbeaten home record for the Austrian champions.
Kovacic, 28, scored a magnificent opening goal from the edge of the box with an instinctive left-footed finish into the corner.
The £40million midfielder only has five goals in 197 Blues appearances, but is capable of the spectacular on the rare occasions he does find the back of the net.
Afterwards, Kai Havertz fired in a winning goal with a powerful shot into the top corner.
Kovacic against Salzburg
Jorginho, who played alongside Kovacic in Chelsea’s midfield on Tuesday evening, credited his teammate in his post-match interview.
“I’m very happy for him (Kovacic). He’s an amazing player. He played so well tonight… Amazing goal. He helped us as always,” Jorginho said.
Chelsea played some really exciting football in the centre of the park yesterday, with youngster Conor Gallagher contributing alongside the Jorginho-Kovacic axis.
It felt like last night some progress was made with the brand of football Graham Potter is trying to get from the group.
Described as “brilliant” by Glenn Hoddle for last night’s performance, Kovacic was central to so much of Chelsea’s good play against Salzburg.
He’s got the excellent knack of tacking up pockets of space in the midfield and popping the ball forward with real intent. It’s great to see him get on the scoresheet, too.
The Blues may be without long-term injury absentee N’Golo Kante, but they still have so much talent available to them in that area of the pitch.
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