Thiago Silva: Chelsea defender showed incredible IQ in win vs Salzburg | OneFootball

Thiago Silva showed his incredible football IQ during Chelsea’s 2-1 victory against RB Salzburg on Tuesday night.

Graham Potter’s side triumphed 2-1 in Austria to secure their qualification to the last-16 of the competition.

In truth, it was a dominant performance from the Blues who should have won by far more.

However, Salzburg did cause problems for the Chelsea defence during the second half and if it wasn’t for Silva, they may well have drawn the game.

A brilliant first half strike from Matteo Kovacic gave the away side the lead. But Junior Adamu equalised for Salzburg just minutes into the second half.

in the 64th minute to regain the lead for the visitors – a lead in which they just about held onto.

And they have Silva to thank for that.

Just minutes after Havertz put Chelsea 2-1 ahead, the 38-year-old used all of his experience to rescue goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.

As a long ball was tossed into the Chelsea penalty area, Kepa came to claim it. However, Silva could see from a mile off that the Spaniard was going to be beaten to it by Strahinja Pavlovic. The Salzburg defender got his head to the ball and must have thought he had scored.

However, Silva had already started running towards his own goal in anticipation and managed to clear the ball away from the corner with Kepa beaten in the air.

It was a brilliant moment of intelligence and footballing IQ shown by the Brazilian.

Check it out – and the reaction of Chelsea fans – below:

VIDEO: Thiago Silva’s moment of brilliance to save Chelsea vs RB Salzburg

Potter admits it ‘won’t be a straight road’ for Chelsea

Potter is yet to lose since being appointed as Chelsea manager but the former Brighton boss realises there will be peaks and troughs in the coming months.

“We’ve had a lot of games and a little bit of disruption in terms of some key players missing, but credit to the boys they’ve responded really well,” Potter admitted.

“They’ve picked up points in the Premier League and to go through as we have in the Champions League is a fantastic effort from everybody. It will not be a straight road, unfortunately. But we are taking steps in the right direction and I think tonight was one.

“I can’t comment on (the finishing) before I was here. All I can say is it’s good that we create chances and perform well. Then you back the quality of the players – the more chances we create, then the quality will come through. So it’s not too much of a concern.”

You can find all of the latest football news and rumours right here.