Liam Rosenior has said that striker Joao Pedro will be very important when Chelsea play Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in Paris on Wednesday night. Since moving from Brighton to Chelsea for £60 million last summer, the 24-year-old Brazilian has been in great form, scoring 14 goals and assisting five others in the Premier League this season.
Pedro has scored 17 goals in all competitions since the Club World Cup, 11 of which came in his last 12 games. He scored his first Chelsea hat-trick in a 4-1 win over Aston Villa at Villa Park. He also scored in Saturday’s thrilling 4-2 FA Cup win over Championship side Wrexham, which went into extra time.
Rosenior had planned to keep Pedro’s energy up before the trip to Paris, but he had to bring him in as a late substitute because Wrexham unexpectedly took Chelsea to extra time. After Chelsea made it to the quarter-finals, their manager spoke to talkSPORT and praised his prolific forward:
“Joao is on fire, he’s on fire. I think everybody knew when he picked up the ball and he was driving at their defence that something good was about to happen. He’s in that place… I wanted to manage his minutes because he’s going to be massive for us in Paris on Wednesday. But he did a really good job at helping us through this round.”
Rosenior also praised the Brazilian a lot in his pre-match press conference, saying he was in the same class as the best strikers in the world.
“I think Joao’s in that category now. Consistently, during the two months that I’ve been here, he’s shown that level. He’s a world-class striker. I wouldn’t swap Joao for anyone in this moment to be honest, because he’s showing all of the things and all the attributes I want to see in my No. 9.”
Chelsea Travel to Paris for Champions League Last-16 Clash With PSG
On Wednesday, Chelsea will play the first leg of their Champions League last-16 match against PSG, the reigning European champions, at the Parc des Princes. Last month, the Blues had a rough time. They drew with Leeds United and Burnley, who are fighting to stay in the league, and then lost to Arsenal, who are the favourites to win the title. But they got back on track with a big 4-1 win at Villa Park.
Last season, PSG won their first Champions League trophy by beating Inter Milan 5-0 in the final in Munich. This season, however, Luis Enrique’s team have not looked as strong. In the Champions League playoffs, they barely beat Ligue 1 rivals Monaco 5-4 on aggregate. In their more recent league match, they lost 3-1 at home to that same Monaco team.
PSG are still the favourites to beat Chelsea because they have extensive European experience, but the Blues will be happy to have beaten the Parisians 3-0 in the Club World Cup final last summer.