Enzo Maresca plays down Chelsea’s Club World Cup chances: ‘We are not the favourites’ | OneFootball

Enzo Maresca has snapped back at any suggestion that Chelsea are favourites to win the Club World Cup ahead of his side’s semi-final meeting with Fluminense.

Chelsea are potentially 90 minutes away from a shot at becoming world champions, with a final against either Real Madrid or Paris Saint-Germain waiting.

But with such calibre of opponents still in the competition, Maresca disagrees that his side are the clear front runners to bring home Club World Cup glory.

“No, I don't think that Chelsea is the favourite,” he said at his press conference. “I think that at this point, there is no favourite.

“At this point, the teams that have come here, it's because they deserve it, because they have something good, and they have to do everything to try to win and get to the final.”

Chelsea take on a Fluminense side who have proven themselves as the surprise package of the tournament, knocking out Champions League runners-up Inter Milan before dispatching Saudi government-backed Al-Hilal to reach this stage.

It means the Tricolour will be no easy challenge for the Blues, especially with Maresca facing a selection headache.

Levi Colwill and Liam Delap are out of the clash after both picking up a second yellow card in Chelsea’s dramatic 2-1 win over Palmeiras, while Romeo Lavia has also been confirmed unavailable by Maresca after suffering a muscular problem against Benfica. Moises Caicedo, however, is back in contention.

“I think already in the last game we had Romeo out, Moises out, Reece [James] out and we found a solution with Andrey [Santos],” Maresca said. “Now with Levi and Liam out, we're going to find a different solution.”

The Italian manager says new signing Joao Pedro is ready to step up to the plate and make his full Chelsea debut if called upon in Delap’s absence.

“Joao is ready, also Nico [Jackson],” he added. “For sure we're going to find a solution.

“I think Joao can play in all the attacking positions for us. He can play wide, he can play side to pitch, he can play as a line. The difference with Nico is just that I see Nico just as a No 9, while I see Joao in different positions.”