Chelsea manager Graham Potter was impressed with Denis Zakaria’s performance in their win over Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League.
The Stamford Bridge team faced the Croatian side in their last game of the 22/23 Champions League group stage and picked up all three points with a 2-1 win. Potter gave Zakaria his Chelsea debut against Dinamo Zagreb. Chelsea signed Zakaria from Juventus on loan in the summer transfer market
The Swiss midfielder put in an impressive performance for the Blues against Dinamo Zagreb. The 25-year-old scored Chelsea’s winning goal in the match, on the half hour mark.
Against Chelsea, Dinamo Zagreb took the lead in the seventh minute of the game. Bruno Petkovic put Dinamo Zagreb ahead, but Chelsea equalized 11 minutes later. Raheem Sterling restored parity in the 18th minute before Zakaria scored the winner in the 30th minute.
Graham Potter reacts to Denis Zakaria’s performance on his Chelsea debut
Speaking after the match, Potter was asked what he asked of Zakaria and what he thought of the Swiss international’s performance.
Potter said that Zakaria did well against Dinamo Zagreb and that he was happy the defensive midfielder scored and contributed to Chelsea’s performance.
“Always being himself and I thought he did well. He showed the quality of him, he got the ball back, he helped with our attacking play and obviously scoring is fantastic. You can see the quality that he has and we’ve seen that in training as well,” Potter said.
“He can hit a good ball so I think it was a good goal for him and for the team. It was an important goal for us, so I’m happy that he contributed to the team’s performance and that he scored was good”.
Meanwhile, Chelsea finished the 22/23 Champions League group stage as Group E winners. The Blues secured 13 points from six group stage games, with four wins, one draw and one loss.
Chelsea are three points clear of AC Milan, who have also qualified for the next stage of the competition after finishing second in Group E.
Meanwhile, Chelsea take on fierce rival Arsenal in a Premier League game this Sunday. The Stamford Bridge side host the North London outfit and will be looking to get the best out of Mikel Arteta’s men.
Chelsea languishes in sixth place in the Premier League points table, and is 10 points behind table leader Arsenal. The Blues will be looking to bridge the gap to Arsenal when they take on the Gunners this weekend.
