Chelsea are out to make history in the Europa Conference League with a threepeat in their sights – but Enzo Maresca has some big concerns over their trip to Djurgaarden
Enzo Maresca fears Djurgaarden’s synthetic pitch could damage Chelsea’s bid to rejoin the Champions League mainstream – and admits he fears for his players’ well-being. Maresca will consider himself a failure if Chelsea do not go on to win the Europa Conference League and become the first club to complete a clean sweep of all three major European trophies.
But the Blues will be wary of Stockholm Arena’s artificial surface – relaid last summer – which is so unpopular even the Djurgaarden players hate it.
And Maresca, with one eye on Sunday’s Premier League date with champions Liverpool, a massive game in their bid to finish in the top five, admitted he is worried about his stars suffering untimely injuries.
The Chelsea boss said: “For sure, for sure. It can be a concern. I’m a little bit worried about that. But we are not in a moment where we can say we decide to save players for Sunday. This is a semi-final, it’s a European competition and we want to be in the final.”
READ MORE: Cole Palmer has made feelings clear on Chelsea’s latest transfer talks as ‘review’ plannedREAD MORE: Leicester’s stance on sacking Ruud van Nistelrooy emerges after setting unwanted record
Chelsea are firm favourites to lift the Europa Conference League trophy in Wroclaw on May 28 after a long campaign spanning 12 games and nine months already. Ahead of tonight’s semi-final first leg against Swedish dark horses, Maresca was asked if it would be a failure not to go on and win it.
He replied: ”For sure, I don’t know if failure or disappointment is the right word in English, but now that we are in the semi-final, the next target is the final, and then once, if we are able to reach the final, we go for the title.
“For me personally for me it is a huge title, because we can give this club the opportunity to be the only club in the world to win all the European competitions, so it’s also a responsibility for me, a responsibility for the players to get that.”
Since Saturday’s 1-0 win against Everton, Maresca has watched SIX Djurgaarden games in full to give his players a full low-down on what to expect from a raucous 29,000 sell-out crowd. While the country was basking in the April heatwave, the Chelsea boss was shutting himself away indoors running the rule over opponents whose record signing was just £4.5 million.
He said: “Personally I’ve watched six games – some of the Conference League and some of the (Swedish) league.
“The pitch here is a bit different from the one that we are used to playing on every game. We want to try to prepare the game in the best way, thinking about all these small details that are important., but we will not use it as an excuse.”
Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
Sky Sports launches discounted Premier League package
£43
£35
Sky
Get the deal here
Sky has slashed the price of its Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle in an unbeatable new deal that saves £192 and includes 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more.
