Morgan Rogers said he should have received the player of the match award after Chelsea's stunning come-from-behind 6-3 win over Leeds United in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday, joking that teammate Cole Palmer, who was the recipient of the award, "only scored a pen."
Rogers and Palmer were two of four halftime substitutions made by head coach Xabi Alonso with the team trailing 1-0 at the break. After quickly falling 2-0 down, a Palmer penalty in the 53rd minute halved the defecit before the Chelsea talisman got them level two minutes later with an effort from the edge of the box, assisted by Rogers.
Chelsea ran riot from there, scoring four more as they eventually triumphed at Stamford Bridge.
Palmer was subsequently named player of the match and it fell to Rogers to award his teammate with the trophy.
In footage released by Sky Sports that captured Palmer and Rogers' conversation before their live post-match interview started, Rogers joked that he should be collecting the award, saying: "I got four assists? I can't believe that, that is mental. He [Palmer] scored a pen!"
Palmer said: "I'll shout out that you should have had it," to which Rogers replied: "don't mention me. I'm just a bystander... that is criminal."
As well as the assist for Palmer's second goal, Rogers was credited with laying on Pedro Neto and Danny Welbeck's goals. He mistakenly thought he had registered four assists because his 80th-minute low cross was touched by Leeds goalkeeper Michael Zetterer before reaching ValentÃn Barco who smashed the loose ball home for his first Chelsea goal.
Rogers joined close friend Palmer in west London this summer after completing a £117m move from Aston Villa.
Alonso conceded he made it "too difficult" for his Chelsea players after making nine changes to his starting XI.
"I take responsibility," said Alonso after backtracking on his decision to leave out his star players. "No player to blame, it's a decision that we took.
"First half things were not going the way we wanted. When you do not have time to work with [the squad players], it's difficult to compete at this level. It's my responsibility.
"We need to analyse, but happy that we are going through, happy with the reaction."
After pulling off their impressive comeback, Chelsea will find out the identity of their fourth-round opponents when the draw is made on Sept. 16.
Information from PA contributed to this story.
