Chelsea were a step above FC Barcelona on Tuesday night as they cruised to a 3-0 win in the UEFA Champions League at Stamford Bridge.
The Blaugrana were never really in the game and were outclassed from start to end, with Ronald Araujo’s sending-off in the first half only making matters worse.
Enzo Maresca delighted with game plan
Speaking to the media after the win, Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca shed light on the game-plan that he had devised to face Barcelona and how it ended up working like a charm.
“I think the feeling with the 11-on-11 game was that we were doing well, controlling the match and not conceding anything,” started Maresca, as quoted by AS.
“You know it better than I do: Barcelona is comfortable with the ball, and without it they struggle more. We wanted to make Barcelona run because we know that’s where they suffer,” he added.
“If you give them the ball, they’re comfortable, so we had to take it away from them as quickly as possible. We scored three, had three others disallowed, we had chances… the team played very well.”
Talking about what the victory meant for his team, Maresca added: “It’s a great victory because it’s against Barcelona, but it doesn’t change who we are or what we want to achieve.
Enzo Fernandez of Chelsea whilst under pressure from Eric Garcia and Robert Lewandowski of FC Barcelona
Barcelona could not stop Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
“It’s an important match, but it’s just one match, because we have another one this Sunday.”
Regarding the performance of star prodigy Estevao Willian, the Chelsea boss remarked:
“He played a great game, not just because of the goal, but because of everything. He needs to relax, enjoy himself, and play football. He and Lamine are very young; it’s a lot of pressure to talk about Cristiano or Messi. They need to enjoy themselves.”
Enzo Fernandez criticises Barcelona
Enzo Fernandez was one of the key figures for Chelsea in Barcelona’s painful defeat at Stamford Bridge.
The Argentine midfielder caused Barcelona significant problems between the lines and, after the match, he openly criticised Hansi Flick’s high defensive line approach.
“They have a very high defensive line for my liking. We knew there were spaces behind them and we were able to find our striker in space many times. And that was also the plan we had prepared with Maresca,” he said, as quoted by SPORT.
Enzo was not the only one to criticise Barcelona’s tactics, with Premier League legend Alan Shearer also hitting out at the high line and the offside trap that did not work at all on Tuesday.