Chelsea academy graduate Callum Hudson-Odoi says he thought he was in “a dream” when he netted his first goal for the club on Thursday night.
The talented winger was awarded a start by Maurizio Sarri in Chelsea’s Europa League tie with PAOK and registered a goal and an assist to help the Blues on their way to a 4-0 victory.
A first half double from Olivier Giroud put the Blues in the ascendancy early on, with PAOK’s Yevhen Khacheridi sent off for a professional foul after just seven minutes. Hudson-Odoi added a third with a clever finish before setting up Alvaro Morata for Chelsea’s fourth and final goal.
Speaking to BT Sport at full-time, 18-year-old Hudson-Odoi described his disbelief when he realised that he’d scored his first senior goal for his boyhood club.
“I couldn’t believe it," the England youth international explained. "I got the opportunity to start today and I thought to myself, 'Do you know what? Today could be the day'.
“Every time I got the ball I just wanted to do what I do normally, keep it simple at times but do my stuff, and as soon as I got the goal I couldn’t believe it. I thought it was a dream. As soon as I saw the crowd jumping I realised it was actually a goal and I’d actually scored the first goal for my club.
“For the assist, that just tops off the night for all of us. We worked hard and we deserved all of the goals that we got.”
The result saw Sarri’s side get back to winning ways after they fell to their first defeat of the season against Spurs last Saturday.
Hudson-Odoi believes his side were back to their “normal selves” on Thursday after some hard work on the training pitch in recent days.
“I think it was definitely what we needed. It boosted our confidence and we got the goals early,” the winger added.
“Last week was a little setback, so we came back on the pitch straightaway and started working hard.
“We got the goals and the clean sheet which proved that we’re back to our normal selves and that it was just a little setback. I think we did what we could, worked hard and got the points.”
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Many are of the opinion that Hudson-Odoi should already be playing regular first team football and it’s been suggested that he may look to move abroad to secure more opportunities in the near future.
But for now, the exciting forward says he’s concentrating on proving his qualities at Chelsea and says he’ll be celebrating his first goal with his family.
“Every opportunity I get I’ll keep striving and keep working hard, especially in training because that proves everything,” he continued.
“The 90 minutes today boosted my confidence really. Hopefully more opportunities will come.
“I’m always eager to play but it’s always the coach's decision as well so I’ve just got to keep working hard in training and keep proving myself and working hard and hopefully I keep getting the opportunities to play.
“I think I’ll celebrate it with all of my family really. They’ve always been there from the start and helped me all the way so I’ll definitely celebrate with them and have a good time and get back at it tomorrow.”
