Kurt Zouma gave two minute pep talk to Rennes’ Eduardo Camavinga after Chelsea win

Kurt Zouma was the last Chelsea player to return to the dressing room after staying out on the pitch to have an animated chat with Rennes midfielder Eduardo Camavinga.

The west London club secured their passage to the last 16 of the Champions League with a 2-1 victory in France on Tuesday night, with Callum Hudson-Odoi and Olivier Giroud netting for the visitors.

Rennes, however, have struggled in their maiden Champions League campaign and are bottom of Group E with no chance of progressing, while they are fighting just to drop into the Europa League.

They have lost four matches on the bounce in all competitions, having been beaten 3-0 and 1-0 by Paris Saint-Germain and Bordeaux respectively in their previous two Ligue 1 outings.

Zouma has clearly been paying attention to Rennes’ performances this season – and those of his young international teammate Camavinga – and made a beeline for the midfielder at full-time of Tuesday’s game.

The 26-year-old, who broke into the Saint-Etienne team at a similar age to the 18-year-old Camavinga, spoke animatedly for over two minutes giving an in-depth tactical brief on how the side need to improve.

As had happened against PSG, both of the goals Rennes conceded against Chelsea came from turnovers: Jeremy Doku and Clement Grenier both losing possession before a rapid count-attack from the Blues.

‘Sometimes you have to swing when you’re behind,’ Zouma told Camavinga at the end of the game, according to RMC Sport. ‘We do it sometimes.

‘When there is pressure, you lose the ball and a goal. Evert time it’s like this! It happened against PSG too.’

Zouma gesticulated with his hands to show the gaps that needed to be filled to compete at the highest level and Camavinga listened intently.

The teenager already has three caps and a goal for the senior France national team and has been heavily linked with a big move next summer, with Real Madrid boss Zinedine Zidane one of his biggest admirers.

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