“I studied them” – Atalanta boss ready to face Chelsea after attending Cobham sessions | OneFootball

The manager of Atalanta might feel he has an advantage over Chelsea tonight after recently going to Cobham to study them.

Enzo Maresca and Atalanta manager Raffaele Palladino have admitted to being good friends ahead of their two sides meeting tonight in the Champions League.

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Chelsea are in Italy as the away side tonight, but Palladino has recently been in London after an invitation from his friend.

Maresca admitted: “Before he took over Atalanta, he came to London to study some of our training sessions, we stayed in contact, so yes we know each other well.”

Palladino also confirmed this: “I expect a very strong Chelsea with great individual talents. I studied them when I spent time in England, but obviously in a match situation is a whole different matter.

“I am happy for Maresca and all he is doing, seeing as we’ve been friends since our time together at Juventus.”

Interesting situation

Enzo Maresca shouts from the touchline. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

I get that they are friends, and he came to Cobham before he was even a manager at Atalanta. But I can’t help think that this genuinely will give him an advantage, knowing exactly how we train, what setups we train, what the players are like, how hard they train, and being able to hone in on any strengths and weaknesses that the team has.

We’ll see how it goes, I guess. It might not make any difference at all.

In other news today

Nicky Butt believes that Kobbie Mainoo could end up joining Chelsea very soon after the very poor way he has been treated at Manchester United.

Enzo Maresca has been defending Chelsea’s recent away from ahead of the game in Italy tonight, where he will be hoping to improve that form.