Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has confirmed that his team will give Premier League champions Liverpool a guard of honour on Sunday, while also warning the Reds that they are closing in on them. Despite being Liverpool's closest challengers for half the season, Chelsea's campaign was derailed by losses to Fulham and Ipswich over the festive period. Maresca wants his players to understand the significance of their gesture towards Liverpool, hoping it will inspire them to think: "One day I would like to be there."
The Blues returned home at dawn following their 4-1 victory over Djurgarden in Stockholm on Thursday night, a result which all but secures their place in the Conference League final against either Real Betis or Fiorentina on May 28. Meanwhile, back in England, Nottingham Forest's loss to Brentford ensured Chelsea remained in the top five with hopes of Champions League qualification alive.
But before they can focus on next season, they must first welcome Liverpool to Stamford Bridge and will applaud Arne Slot's title-winning side onto the pitch. Maresca said: "It's tradition. We have to do that, and we are going to do that. They won the Premier League, so they deserve it.
"In terms of the gap between us and Liverpool, it is there, you can see this clearly. My feeling is we are [moving] in the right direction and hopefully this gap can be smaller and smaller. The difference is they have been consistent compared to us. For part of the season we were very good, and then we lost some games."
"This has probably been the main reason why the gap is there - also in terms of experienced players who know how to win games and these kinds of things, I think they have something more compared to us."
"For sure, if you want to close the gap with these kind of clubs then you have to do things (like adding experience). Our team next season will be better in terms of experience because this season has been one more year together.
"There are ones who are growing, like Levi [Colwill] for instance. He is growing a lot in terms of leadership. Next year he will be better and better. Hopefully the ones that we have, they can grow and help us in terms of experience."
The manager also dismissed the notion that a guard of honour is needed to appreciate Premier League success: "I don't think we need to give a guard of honour to understand how good it is to win the Premier League - we know that it's something very nice."
"But for sure when you are standing there, probably in their minds our players are thinking, 'I would like one day to be there.'"
Maresca doesn't expect any favours from the newly-crowned champions in west London, either. He added: "It's always nice to play this kind of game, but I don't think Liverpool's approach is going to be different or relaxed."
Chelsea are poised for another European final, with the Blues set to travel to Wroclaw in Poland for their sixth European final in 17 years, offering them the opportunity to claim a complete set of UEFA trophies after previous successes in the Champions League, Europa League, the now-defunct Cup Winners Cup, and the Super Cup.
Maresca expressed hope that his team has taken lessons from their previous home defeat to Legia Warsaw, following a solid 3-0 first-leg triumph: "You have to go through this moment to learn.
"Now we can say, 'OK guys, it's already happened. It's not going to happen again.' Otherwise that means there's a problem. We need that kind of experience to improve."
In a delightful turn of events during the easy win in Sweden, young Reggie Walsh made history as Chelsea's youngest debutant since 1967 at just 16 years and 193 days old.
Maresca shared: "They just said to me that we gave eight debuts this season from the academy. I think it's good. I just told him to be happy and play the way he's training with us every day. He's so good because he makes everything easy, but he's very young and he needs to continue to work."