Rafael Benitez said he decided to take off Oscar against Sparta Prague because he wanted to leave Victor Moses on the pitch.
The interim manager felt Moses was doing an important job on the right-hand side, where he tracked back as well as attacked down the flank.
Benitez’s decision to withdraw Oscar midway through the second half was greeted with anger by fans.
But the Brazilian’s replacement Eden Hazard scored the all-important goal that took Chelsea into the last 16 of the Europa League.
“With the team doing well it was not easy to pick someone [to come off],” said Benitez.
“Victor Moses was doing an important job, and Eden has quality and ability and made the difference in the end.”
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This post was last modified on 21/02/2013
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All is Abromavic fult he is d one give rafa managin an make silent without saying anythin he sack morinho our praud manager an dimateo he is our chompions league manager but he let stupid banatez lovin unform striker we hate him we hate him an nex u
Plz,if all of u cn remember di matteo tried it against juv nd dey humilated us,xo its beta playin wit torres dan witout any striker atal,ba is cup tied
Y r u pple blaming rafa,ba is cup tied nd can't play in d europa cup,xo torres has 2 play,cum rain cum shine.
V. Want Jose back at Chelsea rafa. Is not good at all Torres must give him free to any clud
Rafa is a very big goat, he does't knw anytin. Betrand, Torres re nt gud 4 chelsea, nd Oscar dnt deserve 2b on bench.
I find it a bit sad all of you are blasting rafa for leaving torres out there. We have city on sunday....ba will be starting. Would you have rather watched torres play vs city in the league?
All what benitez is trying to do is to convince both Abramovich and the fans that he can revive Torres to be on his best form, although he sub Oscar for Hazard and he scored the only goal for us does not mean that he did a good sub he would have sub torres because he had miss alot of chances GREAT THANKS TO EDEN HAZARD who rescue us
am sorry to say so but the only good thing that can happen to chelsea at the moment is a long term injury to Torres. I know you may say he is our main striker but what difference does it make? when he is on the pitch we are 10 men anyway! Put david luiz as a striker or even ivanovic, atleast they try to make attempts
Rafa is a useless coach with a stupid tactics and rubbish sub. I still can't figure out why he left that forlorn/misfiring torres on the pitch when we really need at least a goal to progress to the next round. I bid rafa and torres farewell in advance, both of you are bunch of mess.
I want jose mourinho! Bring him back!