A brilliant 3-0 win for Chelsea in Poland gives them a commanding advantage over Legia Warszawa in the UEFA Europa Conference League quarter-finals. Enzo Maresca praised his side for their performance, calling it a “professional” display in the first leg.
“We planned the game to try to have our best players for this game and give the rest of the players chances to recover energy. Overall, a professional performance, and a good result. We were much better in the second half compared to the first half for different reasons. We need to learn to play different kind of games,” he explained post-match.
Tyrique George netted his first goal for the London side tonight, and Enzo Maresca was full of praise for the 17-year-old’s impressive performance — also taking a moment to commend the club’s academy for consistently producing top talent.
“Happy first of all for the Chelsea academy because he is one of our boys. He was quite good in the first half, taking responsibility. He was probably better in the middle.”
“The one I fall in love with tonight is Josh Acheampong. He can be a fantastic player for this club. A good player can play in different positions and he showed that. Since we started, I’ve been in love with him but tonight he showed he can be a very good player for this club. He can be good in different positions. The best thing for Josh is that he’s open – he wants to learn,” said the head coach.
Christopher Nkunku hasn’t found the net since early January, but Maresca remains unconcerned about the forward’s form, backing him to make an impact as the season reaches its crucial stage.
“A lack of confidence at this moment but the only way to deal with that is to work hard. The good thing about Christo is that he’s working well every day.”
Chelsea will host Legia Warszawa in the second leg of their UEFA Europa League quarter-final next Thursday, with kickoff at Stamford Bridge scheduled for 20:00 BST [21:00 CEST].