Chelsea’s Pedro Neto explains pointed message behind goal celebration against West Ham
The Blues winger equalised against the Hammers.
Pedro Neto sent a message to both Chelsea’s lovers and haters with his goal celebration in the win over West Ham on Monday night.
The Blues came from behind at Stamford Bridge, with it looking like a sticky evening for them when Jarrod Bowen had given the Hammers a half-time lead.
However, Neto equalised as he fired home a bobbling ball in the box, before a Cole Palmer cross was deflected into his own goal by Aaron Wan-Bissaka to give Chelsea a slightly fortunate victory.
After scoring in the 64th minute Neto made a talking gesture with his hand, unclear who he was sending that message to.
Asked by Sky Sports after the game what point he was making, he said that the team are just focussing on themselves, unfazed by positive or negative talk.
‘We are a big club,’ said the former Wolves man. ‘When you win you are the best and when you lose you are the worst so it is about working and being consistent and showing what we can do.
‘To win trophies, you have to know how to suffer. We are here to suffer and do our best and to finish in the top places.’
While it might not have been a vintage performance from Chelsea in the London derby, Marc Cucurella felt the Blues showed their togetherness as the battled to the victory.
‘This win was very important in front of our fans. Today the team showed character, I think we were confident and we deserved the three points,’ said the Spaniard.
‘We play in this big club, we need to win trophies, we need to believe in ourselves. We need to suffer, we came back from the mistake in the first half and we showed what the players had to come back in this game.”
‘We played today like a team, like a family and I think it is very important for us.’
Blues boss Maresca felt his team fully deserved the three points they picked up, telling Sky Sports: ‘Today was a tough game especially mentally. When West Ham come here and sit back with 10 players behind the ball, it’s not easy, so you have to be mentally strong and you need to be patient.
‘We had more than 10 shots in the first half. We had clear chances in the first half but unfortunately, we missed the target. With some changes the game completely changed. Overall we completely deserved to win the game.’
