Chelsea defender Cesar Azpilicueta was pleased for matchwinner Marcos Alonso on Thursday.

Alonso was dropped for the last two games before resurfacing at Slavia Prague to score a hugely important goal four minutes from time in Thursday's Europa League win.

His fellow Spaniard and Blues captain Azpiliceuta said: "It is a season where he is playing a bit less and rotating more with Emerson. Players always want to play.

"When you see other players don't play, you need to pick up your team-mates because during the season we need everybody. Everyone is important.

"You can see that in every game. We are in the quarter-finals because we did our job as a team since September.

"We need to keep pushing because there is still many games to go and we need contributions from everyone.

"We know his ability at scoring goals.

"He has scored very important goals for the club and against Slavia, it was very good timing, a good header. It is very important for him to score that goal.

"It is important for every player and it is healthy competition.

"We are lucky to have two very good players in Marcos and Emerson, that can provide different solutions to the manager.

"We know that in Chelsea the competition for every position is high. We know we have to perform in every game."