Enzo Maresca reveals why Chelsea stars must 'switch off' after beating Barcelona in Champions League | OneFootball

Chelsea have kicked off a massive week with a statement win over Barcelona in the Champions League

Chelsea were 3-0 winners as they ruthlessly put the Catalans to the sword in the Champions League on Tuesday night.

An own goal by Jules Kounde set them on their way, before Estevao and Liam Delap scored in the second half to add gloss onto the scoreline of a deserved Chelsea victory over the five-time European champions.

“I’ve told the players, next 48 hours, completely switch off,” he said. “Have a rest. Recover the energy.

“Because next Sunday we have Arsenal. My message after the game was just: recover the energy. That, in this moment, is the most important thing.

“Then, on Friday, we start to think about Arsenal. We need to keep the momentum because it’s very nice — and it’s much easier to recover energy when you win games.”

The Chelsea head coach added: “For me personally, this is a big win. But nothing changes in terms of what team we are and what we can achieve. We focus now on the next one. We created enough to win the game.”

Chelsea cruised to victory over Barcelona in the Champions League

Chelsea FC via Getty Images

Barca went down to ten men in the first half when their captain Ronald Araujo was sent off for a second bookable offence after a needless challenge when already playing on a yellow card.

Manager Hansi Flick was disappointed by his side’s insipid performance and felt the red card had a large bearing on how the match unfolded.

“Today we made some big ball losses”, the German said. “In the Champions League and especially here playing against a club second in the Premier League, we have to fight a little bit more.

“When you analyse the match, you have to see we had one player less — so it’s not easy. For them [Chelsea], it was fantastic to play against one player more.”