TACTICAL EVOLUTION: WHY JOAO PEDRO IS FLOURISHING UNDER LIAM ROSENIOR BUT FAILED MARESCA.
Joao Pedro scores two stunning goals as Liam Rosenior’s Chelsea overcome defensive chaos to beat Napoli and reach the UCL Last-16.
You’ve got to wonder just how many “celebratory” and “insightful” LinkedIn messages Liam Rosenior’s been wading through these past couple of weeks. Four wins out of five, 13 goals, two clean sheets—no way his inbox survived unscathed.
After all, Chelsea just beat the reigning Scudetto winners, away from home, in the biggest match of Rosenior’s short managerial life. They’re into the Champions League last-16, and he did it against one of Chelsea’s old guard. If that doesn’t earn him a pile of glowing recommendations on LinkedIn, what does?
Antonio Conte, as always, didn’t sugarcoat things. With half his Napoli squad in the treatment room—no Kevin De Bruyne, no David Neres, no Billy Gilmour, no Matteo Politano—he looked like a man bracing for a storm. Before kickoff, the ever-irritable Italian just shrugged and said, “If the league started today, everyone would put Napoli between 8th and 10th place.” He wasn’t wrong.
Napoli didn’t exactly look up for it in the opening 20 minutes. Chelsea wandered around, poking holes, looking for a way in, and eventually got a penalty for one of those handballs that’s somehow both obvious and infuriating—Reece James’ free kick smacked someone’s arm in the wall. You know the type.
Enzo Fernandez buried the penalty, and only then did Napoli seem to remember they actually had to win to stay in the competition—and that Chelsea had just one centre-back on the pitch.
Nobody was shocked when Napoli’s two goals both left Wesley Fofana stranded and alone. First, Antonio Vergara danced past him to score his first senior goal—pretty much turning Fofana inside out, Maradona-style, in the Maradona stadium. Then Rasmus Hojlund beat him to a low cross and poked it home. Tough night for Fofana.
Rosenior got his lineup wrong, plain and simple. Trevoh Chalobah came on after an hour and cleared a dangerous ball from what every Chelsea kid learns is “the John Terry position”—front post, first to react. That shouldn’t have been a revelation for Rosenior, but somehow it was. Maybe he doesn’t trust his centre-backs. It’s hard to blame him, but just refusing to play them doesn’t solve much.
What Rosenior did get right was unleashing Cole Palmer from the right after halftime—where he’s been most dangerous for Chelsea. Palmer didn’t waste time. The only head he turned belonged to Joao Pedro, setting him up for two truly stunning goals.
First, Palmer slipped a clever pass around the corner after a slick move out from the back. Pedro’s first touch gave him a breath of space, then he smashed a shot from the edge of the box across the keeper and into the top corner. Gorgeous strike.
His second was just as good—Palmer played a quick one-two, Pedro spun in behind the Napoli defence, collected Palmer’s perfectly weighted through ball, calmed himself, and tucked it away. That’s four goals in five games now for Pedro, who honestly looked lost under Enzo Maresca.
But the real story here—what Rosenior’s been banging on about since he arrived—is the character his team showed. Some people will write this off because Napoli’s squad was threadbare, or because of Conte’s miserable Champions League record, or because of where they sit in the table. They’re missing the point.
Winning in that stadium, with such a raw, inexperienced group—that’s no small thing. This could be a turning point for Rosenior and his players, not just for this season, but for whatever comes next.
ARSENAL POCKET INSANE £125.18M FOLLOWING CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL QUALIFICATION
Mikel Arteta's side has added £15.97m to their cash reserves, eclipsing the total earned by current champions PSG last year.
Arsenal have added another £15.97 million to their UEFA prize money haul after securing a spot in the Champions League final with a win against Atletico Madrid. They are set to face either Bayern Munich or the current champions, Paris Saint-Germain, in Budapest on May 30, aiming for their first-ever triumph in this prestigious competition.
Beyond that, there’s an additional £5.61 million up for grabs in Hungary later this month. But up to now, Arsenal have amassed an eye-watering £125.18 million in Champions League prize money this season alone. A place in next season’s European Super Cup also carries a potential reward of around £3.45 million. It’s been a remarkable European run under Mikel Arteta, with the team dominating the group stage by winning all eight matches.
From the very beginning, the club benefited from the initial distribution of TV revenue and the rankings pool, which together amounted to £49.6 million. Even before the knockout rounds kicked off, Arsenal had already secured £85.3 million in prize money.
That total doesn’t even cover the bonuses linked to their on-field success, as each of their eight victories in the group stage brought in roughly £15.8 million altogether.
By finishing first out of 36 group-phase clubs, Arsenal earned an extra £8.6 million, and progressing straight to the round of 16 as one of the top eight teams secured them another £11.3 million.
They continued their strong run by eliminating Bayer Leverkusen after a 1-1 draw away and a 2-0 win at the Emirates, which added £10.8 million more to their earnings.
Overcoming Sporting CP in the quarter-finals also brought a £10.8 million bonus. While Arsenal’s motivation isn’t just financial, this level of income certainly aids in meeting profit and sustainability rules and other financial fair play criteria.
It’s also likely to support their summer transfer budget, as sporting director Andrea Berta looks to build on Arteta’s squad.
Last season, Arsenal took home £98.63 million after reaching the semi-finals before falling to PSG.
PSG, who went on to win the title, collected about £124.62 million last year, so Arsenal have now already surpassed that figure.
Meanwhile, UEFA has set aside a record £2.13 billion in prize money for the 2025-26 Champions League season, highlighting the competition’s growing financial stakes.
JAN OBLAK CONFESSES ATLETICO WERE "AFRAID TO PLAY" AGAINST ARSENAL
Following their Champions League exit, skipper Jan Oblak analysed where Atletico went wrong and paid tribute to Griezmann.
Jan Oblak didn’t hold back after Atletico Madrid crashed out of the Champions League against Arsenal. He said straight up that the team just didn’t do enough to earn a spot in the final. Sure, he’s proud of how far the squad has come recently, but the way they went out still stings.
Oblak was pretty open about where things went wrong, especially after the first leg, when Atletico failed to take an advantage back to London. “I'm disappointed, just like all the fans. Honestly, I can’t find the words. We didn’t do enough to be in the final, and it’s just a tough moment. We had our chances to win, but we didn’t take them. All that’s left is to congratulate Arsenal.”
He didn’t stop there, either. Speaking to CBS Golazo, Oblak was even more direct about the team’s mentality, especially in the first half of both matches. He felt Atletico were hesitant, too respectful of Arsenal, and afraid to play. Both times, they fell behind before halftime and then tried to play catch-up, but it was always a little too late. “This has happened several times this season,” Oblak said, “and while we’ve managed to win those games before, not today when it mattered most.”
On the flip side, Oblak did give some credit to the young players and the growth the team’s shown, especially after a couple of big summers that saw a huge part of the squad change. “The last two seasons, we’ve switched out something like 15 players. A lot of young guys with not much experience came in. They did great in the cup, and they’ve held up in the Champions League too. In the league, we weren’t good enough for the biggest matches, but I’m proud of how the younger ones are growing. Still, when the goal is to win a title, and you don’t, you can’t call it a success. All we can do is look forward and hope we’ll be fighting for trophies next season.”
Saying goodbye to Antoine Griezmann made this exit even sadder for Oblak and the rest of the squad. Griezmann’s heading to Orlando City this summer, bringing the curtain down on his Champions League career with Atletico. “Everyone’s going to miss Griezi; he’s an incredible player and a great guy. The kind of person who’s always smiling, always positive, and does things on the pitch nobody else can. We’ll miss him a lot; the fans will miss him, but he deserves nothing but the best wherever he goes.”
At 33, Oblak is one of Atletico’s true leaders, right behind Koke for the captain’s armband. Alongside Jose Maria Gimenez and Marcos Llorente, he’s been a
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