10 days off for Chelsea and back to business after Conference League win
Chelsea completed a successful season by their standards with a 4-1 win over Real Betis in the UEFA Conference League.
Chelsea will be hoping beyond hope that their young squad can cope with the demands of an extended season as they prepare to take part in the revamped Club World Cup in the USA next month.
Head coach Enzo Maresca also believes that they have no expectations for the upcoming Club World Cup in the USA and will take each game step by step.
Chelsea completed a successful season by their standards with a 4-1 win over Real Betis in the UEFA Conference League Final Wednesday night in Wroclaw, Poland, as they landed some silverware to go with their Premier League top-four finish.
Maresca is happy with the result but isn't getting carried away ahead of the Club World Cup and Champions League, which require plenty in the tank to ensure success.
"Now we have 10 days off. Ten days where we need to recover energy," the coach told Broadcast Media following the Betis win.
“And then we’re going to start the Club World Cup. The target, to be honest, is go game by game. Try to go step by step. But in this moment, we don’t have any target for the Club World Cup."
He added, "Now the only target is to recover energy because the season has been very long. Don’t forget that we started the conference in the play-off, not even in the group. And it has been a long season."
The Chelsea coach was then asked about what his ambitions were for the Champions League next season, having finally qualified for the top European trophy.
"Is the target to win that?," he was asked, rather cheekily by a member of the press. "No," Maresca chuckled in response.
Chelsea will join Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, and Newcastle United in next season's Champions League after they all made it to the competition following successful Premier League and European displays.
