Chelsea star Mason Mount said his Blues teammate Denis Zakaria deserved to win the MOTM more than he did in their victory over Dinamo Zagreb.
The Blues hosted Dinamo Zagreb in their last match of the 22/23 Champions League group stage and brought out the best in the Croatian team. Chelsea inflicted a 2-1 defeat on Dinamo Zagreb, who had beaten the Blues 1-0 when the two teams met in their 22/23 Champions League opener.
Chelsea found themselves trailing 1-0 just seven minutes after Bruno Petkovic put Dinamo Zagreb ahead. But the Blues struggled to get back into the game, with Raheem Sterling restoring parity in 18 minutes.
Zakaria, who joined Chelsea on loan from Juventus in the summer transfer window, later scored the winner for the hosts. The Swiss midfielder, making his Chelsea debut, sent Chelsea 2-1 up in the 30th minute of the game.
Denis Zakaria deserved to win MOTM vs Dinamo Zagreb, says Mason Mount
Mount won the Man of the Match award for his performance against Dinamo Zagreb. The England international was impressive for the Blues and came close to scoring a goal, but his free kick effort was saved by Dominik Livaković.
However, speaking after the match, Mount admitted that Zakaria was more deserving of winning the Man of the Match award.
“Guys have been beating me up the last two games. I got the man of the match because they don’t think he deserves it, but today I don’t think he deserves it!” Mount said.
“Denis Zakaria came in and he was amazing. He deserves the man of the match more than me, and he scored too!”.
Added Mount: “Moving forward after not playing and starting the game was brilliant. I am very happy that he has this opportunity and that he does so well.”
Chelsea, meanwhile, qualified for the Champions League round of 16 as winners of Group E. The west London side have 13 points from six games in Group E, with four wins, one draw and one loss.
Chelsea have a crucial game in the Premier League ahead. They host their London rivals Arsenal at Stamford Bridge this weekend. The Blues will try to reduce the gap to Arsenal to seven points when they take on Mikel Arteta’s men on Sunday.
Chelsea languishes in sixth place in the Premier League points table with 21 points from 12 games. Arsenal is the leader of the table, 10 points above Chelsea.
