'Had to take him off': Liam Rosenior explains brutal Jamie Gittens substitution in Chelsea win | OneFootball

Winger came on in second half but was later withdrawn as Blues defended narrow lead

Gittens came on for Andrey Santos with an hour played, but was then taken off himself in the 90th minute, replaced by centre-back Benoit Badiashile.

Speaking at full-time, Rosenior explained why he made this change and gave his views on Gittens’s performance at the Stadio Armando Maradona.

“I thought Jamie Gittens came on and made a huge difference,” the Chelsea head coach said.

“I had to take him off at the end. Big [Romelu] Lukaku was on. I needed an extra defender on the pitch in that moment.”

Chelsea’s victory ensured they avoided the play-off round and progressed straight to the last 16 by finishing sixth in the table.

“The character of the players, the resilience, the reaction to going behind, was so positive,” Rosenior said.

“The distances were too big in the first half so we corrected it at half-time and made personnel changes. Joao Pedro, a magnificent performance from him.

“I really wanted to be front-footed today and to try to win the game.”