Conor Gallagher and Mateo Kovacic were delighted after beating Salzburg (Picture: BT Sport)
Conor Gallagher was left gobsmacked by his Chelsea team-mate Mateo Kovacic after the the Croatian scored a screamer against Red Bull Salzburg.
The Blues registered an impressive 2-1 victory in Austria to book their place in the Champions League last 16 on Tuesday night.
It was a night to remember for 22-year-old England international Gallagher, who earned his first Champions League start as Chelsea ended Salzburg’s 40-game unbeaten home run.
The victory means Graham Potter’s team remain unbeaten since he replaced Thomas Tuchel in September, with six wins and three draws.
Kovacic opened the scoring as his classy strike from the edge of the area seemed to catch everyone unaware as it flew into the top corner, with goalkeeper Philipp Kohn rooted to the spot.
‘It’s a great finish, huh?’ Gallagher told BT Sport with a massive smile on his face as team-mate Kovacic, stood next to him, looked equally delighted.
‘I couldn’t believe it to be honest! To get that first goal is very important. It definitely helped us out.
‘It gave us more confidence in the game. It’s a great finish, nice one brother!’
Gallagher was then quizzed about making his first Champions League start and spoke more generally about the 2-1 win over Salzburg.
‘It was a really proud moment,’ he added.
‘I wanted to give a good performance today, I wanted us to get the win, that’s the most important thing. Hopefully I can push on from this.
‘[We are] really happy. It was a really tough game today, we knew it would be. Everyone stuck to the task and we gave our all.
‘The three points are massive and we are happy to qualify. We’re just taking it game by game. Every game is really important.
‘We’ve got a lot of them [coming up] so everyone needs to be ready, which we are, so hopefully we can carry on in the form we are in.’
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‘It’s a great finish, huh?’