Maresca backs Delap to have a big impact next season after striker nets first Chelsea goal | OneFootball

Enzo Maresca says he is thrilled by the start Liam Delap has made to life at Chelsea.

The 22-year-old made the move from Ipswich earlier this summer and scored his first goal for the club as the Blues beat ES Tunis 3-0 to progress to the round of 16 in the Club World Cup.

And the Chelsea boss says he has no doubts Delap will score plenty of goals for his side.

“Against Flamengo, he had three clear chances to score goals,” Maresca said. “That is already a good feeling because it means he is in the right position and is there.

“We have no doubt Liam will score goals for us. No doubt about that.

“We expected the process to be quick with Liam. The reason why is because we know him and he knows us with the way we play.

“For Dário [Essugo], Andrey [Santos] or Mamadou [Sarr] it is going to be a little bit more complicated and they need time because they don’t know exactly how we play.

“For Liam, the process can be quite quick, and he is a really good player.”

The Blues won the game convincingly and also had the chance to rest players who needed to recover due in part to the scorching heat, which Maresca said made it “almost impossible” to train.

The Italian emphasised how important it was that some players were able to rest: “It’s impossible not to rotate players because playing every three days in these conditions means it’s not possible for them to play every game.

“The ones that played were good and we’ve given some rest to Moi, Trev, Levi, Cucu, Cole, Pedro, many players. It’s important to recover the energy and try to win the next game.

“The performance, for me, was good. It was not easy and until we scored the first goal, it was difficult to break their defensive line down. We were quite patient, and when we scored the first goal, the game became a little more open and a little easier for us.”

The result means that Chelsea have finished second in their group, and after Benfica beat Bayern Munich earlier in the day, the Blues will now face the Portuguese side instead of the Bavarians.

“Benfica is a top club, with a top manager and top players,” Maresca said. “It ill be tough but we are in the 16 from 32 and we hope to be in the last eight.”

Chelsea will play Bruno Lage’s side on Saturday in Charlotte, and know that a win would see them face either Botafogo or Palmeiras in the quarter final.