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Nemanja Matic: 'I think I played like Zidane'

Nice to see Nemanja Matic smiling (sort of; he's not really a smiler) and happy after a Chelsea game, even managing to crack a joke about his assist for Chelsea's fourth.

It was a lovely move, started by Baba Rahman pushing up from left back, but staying patient in the luxury of a two-goal lead.  The interplay that followed, between Fàbregas, Matić and Hazard, was positively last season-esque, with the final run down to the touchline and low cross into the danger area reminiscent of Matic's best attacking contributions from our title-winning campaign.

"I think I played like Zidane, [but] that's normal for me."

-Nemanja Matić; source: Chelsea TV

It's been a trying season for Nemanja, for both club and country.  With Serbia, he saw out a disastrous Euro 2016 qualification campaign, one that prompted the normally quiet Chelsea man to even call into question his international teammates' commitment.  Things were not much better back in the SW6 where his sudden demise as an effective midfielder was a key reason for our struggles.  Mourinho persisted with him and hoped he would play himself back into some form.  Hiddink just opted to play Mikel instead (or in addition).

Saturday was Mr. Spiderbeast's first appearance in over a month.  Hopefully it's something he can build on for the final few games of the season and into the next.  Getting Matić back to his 2014 form would be tremendously useful.

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