Enzo Maresca defended Chelsea’s faltering progress to the main round of the UEFA Conference League after losing to Servette.
Chelsea lost when they visited Servette’s headquarters in the second leg of the 2024/25 UEFA Conference League play-off round. Playing at the Stade de Geneve, Thursday (29/8/2024), they lost 1-2.
The Blues took the lead through Christopher Nkunku’s penalty, but the hosts made a comeback after goals from Jeremy Guillemenot and Enzo Crivelli ensured Servette won the match.
Even so, Chelsea qualified for the next round after winning 3-2 on aggregate, because they won the first leg last week with a score of 2-0.
After the match, Maresca admitted that he had expected that playing against the Swiss representatives would be quite a difficult match.
“I think in the first half hour we scored one goal and had three or four more chances, and if we had scored then the game would have been over because it would have been 2-0,” Maresca said.
“And then we conceded one goal and it’s normal to be a little bit stressed. I said it yesterday, but I was very, very worried about the game because it was a tough game.”
Despite rotating the line-up and struggling to win away from home, Maresca insisted he was happy with the result, even with the process.
“For them, it was probably their best game of the season. Against us, the quality of the pitch was not good, the environment, the temperature was 30 degrees and I was very worried about the conditions of the game,” Maresca added.
“When we had the ball we were very aggressive. We created four or five chances in the first half and if we had scored, the game was over.
“That’s football, they scored and it was a boost for them. But in the end, we deserved it, so we are happy.”
With this result, Chelsea now have to play in the Europa Conference League group stage with a busy schedule of matches, but Maresca stressed that the Blues will give their all in this competition.
“This is a competition where we will try to do our best. I think tonight, once again, the team showed with the way we started the game that this team is there.
“This is another competition. We have the Conference League, the Premier League, the FA Cup, the Carabao Cup, all competitions where we will try to do our best and then we will see where we are,” concluded Maresca.
