Liam Rosenior hailed Cole Palmer's performance as "scary good" after the Chelsea star made a big impact against Napoli.

Palmer came on as a half-time substitute with Chelsea trailing 2-1 in Naples, and facing the prospect of missing out on automatic qualification for the last 16 of the Champions League.

Yet Joao Pedro's superb double turned the game around, and Palmer teed up both goals.

While the Brazilian's first strike was a brilliant effort from range, his second came at the end of a fine run and some neat interplay with Palmer, who created a game-leading three chances despite only playing one half.

Chelsea have been cautious with Palmer as he works his way back to full fitness after an injury-hit first half of the campaign, but Rosenior was thrilled with the playmaker.

"Yes, scary good," he said when asked about Palmer's display.

"I don't like to talk about individuals. I felt [it wasn't] just Cole [who played well] when he came on.

"I thought Jamie Gittens came on and I asked him to play a left wing-back role, in which he was magnificent. Ale Garnacho came on to help the team. Obviously, Joao Pedro is top.

"Again, so many pleasing individual performances but I think the most pleasing aspect was the collective mentality of the group to have a positive reaction to a difficult first half."

2 – Cole Palmer became the second Chelsea player to assist two UEFA Champions League goals as a substitute, and the first since Nicolas Anelka against Liverpool in April 2009. Impact. #uefachampionsleague pic.twitter.com/4xtxM04H0K

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 28, 2026

Asked if Palmer started on the bench due to fitness or to have him as an impact sub, Rosenior said: "A bit of both. There was no way that Cole could have started this game and played through to 60, 70, 80 minutes, and I knew Napoli had had a difficult time with injuries.

"I felt that later in the game we would be stronger and I felt Cole's performance was magnificent.

"Not just his quality, his pressing, his running for the team. We need to look after him. He's had so many games over a long period of time.

"We need to look after him and I think the way that he's managed himself in the last two weeks has been magnificent and hopefully we can now see the best of him now that he's fully fit. We need to see him absolutely relish nights like this on a big occasion."

Palmer became the first Chelsea player to assist two goals for the same team-mate in a Champions League match since Juan Mata set up a Didier Drogba double against Valencia in 2011.

Joao Pedro, meanwhile, scored the first brace for Chelsea in the Champions League since December 2021 (Timo Werner against Zenit).

"The coach told us to be positive, to stay calm," Joao Pedro told TNT Sports.

"In the first half we didn’t do it that much. The game was more open in the second half.

"It's very positive – people have a lot of doubts about us. Today, we showed our power."

Chelsea will now get some extra time off before they face either Newcastle United, Monaco, Qarabag or holders Paris Saint-Germain.

"You have to enjoy this job," Rosenor added. "We're the luckiest people in the world to do this job. Very privileged. You have to enjoy these moments, but we want more.

"You're in the Champions League, so at the end of the day, you have to play against the best and beat the best. I am delighted we are through in this manner."