CESAR AZPILICUETA reckons Marcos Alonso’s precious away goal is the perfect pick-me-up for his under-pressure team-mate.
The left-back is finding life tougher at Chelsea with his place in the first team not so certain this season.
Alonso was dropped for the last two games before resurfacing in Prague to score a hugely important goal four minutes from time in Thursday’s Europa League win.
His fellow Spaniard and Blues captain Azpiliceuta said: "It is a season where he is playing a bit less and rotating more with Emerson. Players always want to play.
"When you see other players don’t play, you need to pick up your team-mates because during the season we need everybody. Everyone is important.
"You can see that in every game. We are in the quarter-finals because we did our job as a team since September.
"We need to keep pushing because there is still many games to go and we need contributions from everyone.
"We know his ability at scoring goals.
"He has scored very important goals for the club and against Slavia, it was very good timing, a good header. It is very important for him to score that goal.
"It is important for every player and it is healthy competition.
"We are lucky to have two very good players in Marcos and Emerson, that can provide different solutions to the manager.
"We know that in Chelsea the competition for every position is high. We know we have to perform in every game."
Azpilicueta also believes Kepa is now back in the good books following his Wembley wobbler.
The keeper was dropped, fined and publicly criticised by boss Maurizio Sarri for refusing to be substituted in February’s Carabao Cup Final defeat against Manchester City.
But two priceless saves against Slavia Prague mean Chelsea maintain their first leg lead with the bonus of an away goal heading into next week’s return.
Azpilicueta said: "The important thing about Kepa is this is his first year in England. It is his first season here.
"Sometimes it has been frustrating for him because when the one chance arrives, he can’t do anything to stop the goal.
"But against Slavia he had more of a job to do and he did very well. He kept a very good clean sheet, that is three in a row.
"That is very important for us to be solid.
"We know that when you are in the Europa League quarter-finals, every game is going to be difficult."
Chelsea go to Anfield next where they famously beat them in 2014 to effectively end their title run when skipper Steven Gerrard fell over and gifted striker Demba Ba a goal.
Azpilicueta said: “When we went there they had the party nearly ready because they were smashing every team in Anfield. We arrived with a very clear idea and we did the game we had to do in that moment.
"To beat that team, they were getting very good results, to beat them 2-0 was a very important win for the club, for the fans. Everyone enjoyed that day and hopefully we can replicate it on Sunday.
"Whatever you did in the past is nice because we have had very good results at Anfield, but we have to prove ourselves again on Sunday.
"What we did before is good, but Sunday is another game in a new season."
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