Pedro Neto was lucky to get out of Madrid in time to join Chelsea’s smorgasbord feast here after being caught in the giant Iberian grid blackout. Now the livewire Portuguese winger is looking to add one more power surge to the Blues’ nine-month European campaign against Djurgarden on the Swedish underdogs’ synthetic pitch on Thursday.
Neto was even luckier to escape a 130mph Alexander Zverev serve which almost gave him the coconut shy treatment as a front-row spectator watching the world No.2 in action at the Madrid Open tennis. Along with team-mates Marc Cucurella, Enzo Fernandez and Nicolas Jackson, Neto flew to Spain last weekend and they took in some tennis at the Madrid Open.
But they got a hairier break than they bargained for after ducking to avoid big-serving German Zverev’s target practice and then escaping the panic across Spain and Portugal when the lights went out, flights were grounded and rail travel was suspended.
Neto revealed: “I remember walking with my girlfriend in the city of Madrid and somehow there were no lights, but luckily we went to the airport and we made it out. The flights were not departing so we were lucky to get out of that – and the next day we were training.”
And ducking Zverev’s serve like a batsman dodging a fast bowler’s bouncer? To be honest, I didn’t watch tennis for a long time and the ball was so fast,” he laughed. “In the first one I was laughing to him and this is why I was surprised in the second one.”
Neto’s spectacular winner at Fulham last month could yet prove the turning point of Chelsea’s domestic season, turning the tide after the fans were rounding on head coach Enzo Maresca. He said: “It was a moment that we showed that we are ready for these situations. We were losing 1-0 and to turn around that game was a really good job because it gave belief to the team that we can do even better.”
On their first trip to Stockholm since the 1998 European Cup Winners Cup final against Stuttgart, when Gianfranco Zola stormed off the bench to fire the winner, Chelsea will be favourites to get the job done – even if the grass growing under their feet is plastic.
Their squad cost 44 times the value of Djurgarden’s unsung group, but if Maresca’s players mistake them for Herdy Gerdy Rovers who will roll over easily, they are in for a rude awakening. Maresca warned: “You don’t win games and titles with money, and we know very well that.
“It’s not about how much you spend in the transfer market. You are not going to win games or titles just because you spend big money. You have to spend money, but in the right way. And this season we are now in the Conference League semi-final, we are fighting in our league at home, and hopefully we can finish better in both competitions.”
Djurgardens head coach Jani Honkavaara admitted: “We must try not to think too much about the amount they have spent or the value of their players – our main focus must be what is happening on the pitch.
“We know we are facing a massive challenge, and we are proud to find ourselves in a major semi-final against such a big team, but we must put all those zeros (on the price tags) to one side.”
Captain Jacob Une said: “You always want to compete and it’s a bit surreal to see these world-class players coming here. But I hope they are surprised by what they find – we are comfortable playing in front of our supporters and hope we can surprise them with our good organisation and the massive noise from the stands.”
Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
Sky has slashed the price of its Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle in an unbeatable new deal that saves £192 and includes 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more.
At Reach and across our entities we and our partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from your device to improve experience on our site, analyse how it is used and to show personalised advertising. You can opt out of the sale or sharing of your data, at any time clicking the “Do Not Sell or Share my Data” button at the bottom of the webpage. Please note that your preferences are browser specific. Use of our website and any of our services represents your acceptance of the use of cookies and consent to the practices described in our Privacy Notice and Cookie Notice.
