Chelsea have qualified for the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League, finishing sixth in the group phase after a 3-2 victory over Napoli.
Enzo Fernandez fired Liam Rosenior’s side into the lead from the penalty spot after just 19 minutes, before Napoli fought back to score two before half-time, going in 2-1 up at the break.
However, a second half Joao Pedro brace secured Chelsea all three points in Naples, doing something nobody managed in 2025 and beating Napoli at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium.
In this article, we’ll cover
Chelsea’s plan of attack
Rosenior said in his post match interview, “I wanted to be aggressive in the first half”, which aligned with the set-up utilised in the opening 45 minutes.
Chelsea looked to go man for man across the pitch, using Reece James as a central defender alongside Wesley Fofana and dropping Andrey Santos from a holding midfield position into a faux centre-back role, matching up against the Napoli front five.
On the ball, Chelsea set up in their usual 3-2-4-1 shape, with Marc Cucurella, Fofana and James forming the back three on the ball, while Malo Gusto pushed up to provide width on the right side.
After Rosenior’s side took a 1-0 lead, there were a flurry of sequences where Chelsea tried to play over the aggressive press from Napoli, leading to some cheap turnovers which saw momentum flip.
Out of possession issues
The biggest issue with Chelsea’s man for man approach was how Napoli were able to manipulate their positioning, often dragging Cucurella high and looking to find Giovanni Di Lorenzo making overlapping/underlapping runs which weren’t tracked effectively by Pedro Neto.
Napoli created a multitude of chances from these patterns of play and began to utilise this on both sides of the pitch, with Alessandro Buongiorno pushing high and looking to arrive on the blindside of Estevao.
This saw Napoli create numerous cut back opportunities, which eventually led to their second goal, with Mathias Olivera running off the back of Estevao to arrive on Gusto’s blindside, finding a cut back for Rasmus Hojlund who Fofana was unable stop with a near post run.
Joao Pedro excellence
The man of the match performance came from Chelsea’s Brazilian number 20, scoring two goals from four shots in the match.
For his first goal, Chelsea were able to progress down the right side of the pitch, as James, Estevao and Cole Palmer combined to penetrate from outside to inside.
Once Pedro received the ball from Palmer, the Brazilian’s first touch with the outside of his right foot took it away from the defenders path, before utilising a stutter step to create seperation for the shot which he hit with venom.
His second goal was brilliant too, dropping deep to link play and connecting a third man combination for Palmer to receive facing forwards.
Palmer from here was able to release Pedro, who took it in his stride with his first touch, giving him time bearing down on goal to pick his head up, make the decision to shift onto his weak foot and strike it low across goal.
Cole Palmer’s return
While this was far from Palmer’s scintillating best, the England star provided two assists on his Champions League return, setting up both of Pedro’s two goals.
Operating on the right in tandem with an overlapping right-back, Palmer had the freedom to drift inside and receive between the lines, giving him a runner on the outside to create space for him to manouevre.
In his 45 minutes, Palmer created three chances from his 34 touches, also making three ball recoveries for the side.
While it took him a moment to warm up, Palmer looked better as the game went on, giving Chelsea fans hope he can return to form in a crucial stage of the season.