The Chelsea head coach wants his “best eleven” to play, despite commanding lead
Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has said that he will field a strong eleven against Legia Warsaw in the second leg of their Conference League quarter-final tie.
Chelsea won 3-0 in the first leg in Poland, but Maresca feels that the lead is “not enough”.
Speaking in his press conference ahead of the match, the head coach appeared to squash suggestions that he would heavily rotate his squad and give young fringe players a chance.
“[Our lead] is good,” said Maresca, “but it’s not enough in terms of we have 90 more minutes tomorrow, and hopefully we can reach the semi-finals.”
The Chelsea boss has emphasised repeatedly that the Conference League is an important competition for the club. Not only would winning it ensure that they have a European trophy in the bag in his first season, it is also a neat route to the Europa League.
Last week in the first leg, youngster Tyrique George opened the scoring with his first goal for Chelsea. Other young players who have hopes of seeing some action include January signing Mathis Amougou, and Shim Mheuka from Chelsea’s Cobham academy.
“We always try to prepare the game in our best way, with our best players for that game,” said Maresca.
“[On Thursday], we are going to try to prepare the game with our best eleven.”
