Rafael Benitez: "We deserved late goal"

Chelsea manager Rafael Benitez has insisted that his side deserved their late equaliser against Sparta Prague in tonight's Europa League round-of-32 clash.

Eden Hazard struck in stoppage time to make it 1-1 on the night and give the Blues a 2-1 aggregate win over their Czech opponents.

"I was a little bit disappointed during the game because we had so many chances but, in the end, we deserved to score. We had 60% of possession, 22 attempts," BBC Sport quotes Benitez as saying.

The Spaniard went on to praise under-fire striker Fernando Torres, asserting that his fellow countryman's workrate cannot be faulted.

"We knew they were a good team, it was difficult to stop them sometimes but we were doing a great job pushing and defending. I think for the team, he was great in terms of workrate," he added.

Chelsea will take on Ajax or Steaua Bucharest in the last 16 of the competition.