Chelsea manager Rafael Benitez was full of praise for debutant Demba Ba after his double in Saturday’s 5-1 demolition of Southampton in the FA Cup and says he can play alongside Fernando Torres.
The Senegalese striker, who was preferred to Torres for Saturday’s win, netted his first goals for his new club following his Friday move from Newcastle.
“It’s always important for a striker to score goals but more than just the goals is the contribution for team and the movement and his understanding of what we wanted to do was really good. He was very clever,” Benitez said.
On the selection headache between Ba and Torres, who has improved since Didier Drogba’s exit, Benitez said it was a good problem to have.
“I prefer this problem than [having] to be careful just with one [striker]. It’s important for the team to have these different options. [They’re] good players and they can compete, or maybe we can manage them together,” he said.
“They could play together, Ba was playing with Cisse last month. They can play because he is a clever player, but it depends on the players around them.”