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.

Written by
Mark Langshaw