Potter applauds Zakaria after scoring on his debut for Chelsea

Chelsea manager Graham Potter had nothing but good words to describe Dennis Zakaria, who finally made his debut for the club during their game against Dinamo Zagreb on Wednesday night.

Zakaria scored the winning goal, which is his first for Chelsea after coming in from the bench.

Potter in a post-match statement said: ‘Before the game, I told him to be himself and I thought he did that well. He showed his quality, won the ball back, helped with our attacking play. Obviously to score was fantastic, you saw the quality that he has.

‘We see it in training as well, he can hit the ball. So I think it was a nice goal for him, a nice goal for the team. It was an important goal for us, so I’m happy for him that he contributed to the team performance and also to score. It’s nice.

‘As you would imagine, he’s been frustrated and disappointed when he isn’t playing. That’s the life of a player, but he’s handled himself really well. He’s kept himself fit, trained really hard, supported the team, supported teammates in a really good way.

‘When you do that you give yourself a chance to perform when you’re given an opportunity at this club. So credit to him and you could see everyone was so happy for him. It’s great for him, it’s a great story for the whole group I think.’