“Top team, top manager” – Enzo Maresca warns players and fans to not get complacent after Bayern boost | OneFootball

After picking extremely strong teams for Chelsea’s first two Club World Cup games, Enzo Maresca admitted that he was going to have to change things up for last night’s game against ES Tunis, and indeed he did, making 8 changes to the side that had lost to Flamengo.

Maresca on rotation and Club World Cup strategy

Josh Acheampong gets instructions from Enzo Maresca.

He addressed those changes and the overall performance of his team in the press conference after the game:

“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 Italian coach said.

“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.”

Maresca on facing “top” Benfica in second round

A win for the Blues, combined with a rather unexpected victory for Benfica against Bayern Munich, means we will be facing the Portuguese side in the next round.

That’s good news, without doubt, but Enzo Maresca was quick to make it clear that the Portuguese side are going to be a challenge all of their own:

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

The good news is that our first team will be largely refreshed after a night off last night.