Chelsea beat Servette at home in the first leg of their Europa Conference League play-offs, and Enzo Maresca has revealed he was 'worried'.
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Chelsea win 2-0 over Servette in UECL playoffSuffered late barrage from Swiss sideMaresca reveals he was worried about concedingGetty Images SportWHAT HAPPENED?
Chelsea won their first official game of the season under Maresca as they beat Swiss Super League side Servette 2-0, thanks to goals from Christopher Nkunku and Noni Madueke. However, Maresca has revealed that he was slightly worried towards the end of the game as Servette seemed to pick up the slack and challenged to halve the Blues' lead.
AdvertisementGetty Images SportWHAT MARESCA SAID
Speaking to the media after the win over Servette, Maresca said: "Yeah, I was a bit worried. In the last 10 minutes, we played a little bit with fire. As I said, we could manage the game in a completely different way but I also expected [it] because we are in a moment where we are learning things, so I think in the end it was a good thing because we didn't concede and from then we can learn."
THE BIGGER PICTURE
Regardless of his worries, Maresca also praised his team for their efforts on the pitch as he told the media in his post-match conference: "It was important to win the game and have a clean sheet.
"We did nine changes, we had players [who needed minutes] like Renato [Veiga], Axel [Disasi], Pedro [Neto], even Marc [Guiu], Filip [Jorgensen]. There were many good things.
"At some moments I really liked the team, on and off the ball, especially at the beginning of the game. We were very aggressive and created some chances. We started the same way second half, aggressive on and off the ball. We played really well, but also there were some moments we can manage better, but that’s normal."
WHAT NEXT FOR MARESCA?
Chelsea will have a short turnaround period before they take on Wolves on Sunday, August 25 and the Italian boss will hope to get his first Premier League victory to get the Blues' domestic season started.