Enzo Maresca remains without a win against Leeds United.
The Italian watched his Chelsea side suffer a resounding 3-1 defeat at Elland Road on Wednesday night, meaning he has now lost all three of his meetings with Leeds at an aggregate score of 7-2.
Date Season Matchday Result
3rd December 2025 2025/26 14 Leeds 3-1 Chelsea
23rd February 2024 2023/24 34 Leeds 3-1 Leicester
3rd November 2023 2023/24 15 Leicester 0-1 Leeds
While Maresca easily could have been careless with his words after a dismal display from Chelsea, he showed admirable sportsmanship by piling the praise on Leeds.
Enzo Maresca admits Leeds United were “better” than Chelsea “in every aspect”
What a win! Who was your Man of the Match? 🔥
Jaka Bijol in action for Leeds United
Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP via Getty Images
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The 45-year-old told reporters after the match: “They were better than us in every aspect, deserved to win. Nothing we can take from this game. All we can do is try to understand the mistakes we have done. Try to reset.
“I hope we (just) had a bad night because it’s a game you struggle to take something from. They were on the ball, off the ball, duels, second balls, much better in all the aspects.”
Maresca speaking.
"They were better than us in every aspect, deserved to win. Nothing we can take from this game. All we can do is try to understand the mistakes we have done. Try to reset." #lufc
— Beren Cross (@BerenCross) December 3, 2025
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Maresca also conceded that Estevao struggled with the intensity of a trip to Elland Road so early into his career in English football.
Discussing the 18-year-old, he said: “The feeling with Estevao was a little bit, welcome to Premier League, welcome to Leeds. The impact has been big for him, and the reason we changed him was his yellow card and sometimes, at 18, you struggle to manage emotion. Better to change him.”
The Brazilian was lucky not to be sent off for a foolish swipe at Gabriel Gudmundsson in just the 39th minute, but fortunately for Leeds, it did not end up being a costly mistake from the officials.
Pedro Neto echoes Enzo Maresca and gives credit to Leeds United
Despite the historic rivalry between Leeds and the Blues, there is little bitterness in the Chelsea camp after they were torn apart at Elland Road.
Pedro Neto echoed the thoughts of Maresca and held his hands up, admitting Leeds were simply too good for Chelsea. The Portugal international said: “They were better than us at everything. It’s difficult to take, we have to learn from that but we have to clear our minds, it happens. We are already focused on Bournemouth.
“Sometimes it happens, we had a bad day, they had more intensity, attitude, won the second balls and had more desire than us. We cannot take games for granted.”
Leeds United’s player ratings in win against Chelsea 🥳
We gave Lukas Nmecha and two others a rating of 9/10 – do you agree? Comment below!
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Having watched the second half against Manchester City and now this win over Chelsea, nobody can say these Leeds players aren’t fighting for Farke – who has been under severe pressure this week as Gary O’Neil and Brendan Rodgers are linked to his job.
With Leeds now 17th and impressing in a more compact 3-5-2 formation, this result could prove to be a turning point.
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