Chelsea became the first side to defeat Antonio Conte’s side at home since Lazio did so with a 1-0 victory in December 2024.

Enzo Fernandez contributed our first of the evening with a penalty converted in the 19th minute, but when the home side fought back to go 2-1 in front, the midfielder was impressed with the response of his team-mates to come back and win at a venue where many other teams have been unsuccessful.

‘It was a great match and we deserved to win,' he said afterwards. ‘I want to thank my team-mates for today's victory and for their tremendous efforts in what is a very difficult stadium to come to.

'It had been a long time since Napoli had lost here and I'm very, very happy with the win and with qualification.

‘As I’ve said, I think we're going from strength to strength. We're now in the last 16 and now we can look forward to the draw.

'We have a very good squad with good players, a great team, so we'll take it step by step but with a lot of confidence. Obviously, we're confident in our abilities, we're a great team and we're going to keep moving forward.’

After he emphatically converted his spot-kick, Fernandez pointed to the sky in honour of his legendary compatriot, Diego Maradona. Having been instrumental in Napoli’s first ever Serie A titles in 1987 and 1990 and helping his country to lift the World Cup trophy in 1986, the Argentine hero had achieved sacred status in Naples and Argentina well before he passed away in 2020.

Scoring in the stadium now named after Diego Armando Maradona was a pivotal moment for Chelsea’s Argentine midfielder, one that was truly the icing on the cake after a win that saw us progress to the Champions League knockout stage.

‘I feel very connected to him,’ continued Fernandez. ‘All Argentinians feel connected to him because of everything he did for our football, and for football itself on a global level. The truth is that scoring here was very special and obviously I was happy because we won the game and it was really important that we did.

‘This is Diego's stadium. I really identify with him. Everything he has left behind in terms of his football legacy, he’s so special to us Argentinians. Tonight, we played in his stadium, in his name. Seeing the streets here with his photo, his flag was truly incredible.’