ACCOR STADIUM, SYDNEY –Chelsea boss Xabi Alonso said Western Sydney presented his side with “moments that we were struggling to find solutions for” in their 6-4 Sydney Super Cup win at Accor Stadium.
The Premier League boss named a largely academy based XI in the first half before unleashing his heavyweights on the hour mark, after which Brazilian star Joao Pedro scored a 10-minute hat-trick to seal the entertaining win.
But, the pre-season hit out, which is the entree to their clash with Tottenham on Saturday, served its purpose, while also seeing the A-League outfit, rebuilding after finishing last in 2025-2026, impress the Bundesliga winning manager.
“The whole team impressed me,” he said.
“Even, they had a very aggressive – in good terms – high pressing, in terms of commitment or how they want to play.
“So we were not sure what they were going to do and they had a real go. [embedded content]
“So it was tough at the end. We beat them, but it has been a very, very close game. So because of that, credit to them as well.”
His side had to come from behind three times, but both the academy group, and the superstar group, did so on each occasion.
“I think that it has been very useful, friendly, that we can learn a lot from today,” he added.
“There were moments that we were struggling to find solutions and we need to have the positives that we correct them, but there were moments that the game management is something that we can learn from today when they were pressing so high.
“It was tough to find the solution from inside, to have different understanding of what’s happening and to make those changes in the game.
“It’s something that will happen often in all the games and the more situations we have that we struggle and we find the solutions, the better team we will be.
“For that, think that this friendly is going to be useful for the future and as well for minutes for everyone. No injuries. The young ones, good experience to come in the tour and to have some minutes. And the senior ones, they came on with good impact, with good minutes. So an exciting game for the fans.”
That cohort included 16-year-old Australian-born teenager Mahdi Nicoll-Jazuli, who played the entire second stanza.
“Really good,” he said on Paramount. “He understood very well what the team needed. He’s a very complete player, so for sure it’s a great prospect of player that we have for the future. We need to help him.”
Speaking on the broadcast after the game, he added: “It was a pretty exciting game. Many things happened in both halves, but I think it has been for us a very useful friendly. Credit to (Western) Sydney Wanderers, they had a real go, they played really intense. We’ll get very good things from this friendly.
“To be honest we didn’t really know what they were going to do, if they were going to sit deep or if they were going to come (and be) aggressive. They’ve done really well… we had chances when we were coming out from the first pressure, but as well we have lost some balls, and it was really intense. In the second half we have changed a little bit, but it was pretty interesting.
“Today it was about the position, it was about (playing) loads and minutes, because we have a lot of games. In terms of the squad for the season, we need to have balance in terms of quality, in terms of maturity, in terms of personalities, so we are trying to look for that. We have great things, but some things that we can improve, and we’re still trying to make improvements.”
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