Enzo Maresca celebrates with his Chelsea staff
Enzo Maresca celebrates with his coaching staff
Chelsea's reaction to their 1-0 win over Manchester United on Friday night could not have been more telling as the race for a Champions League spot goes down to the wire.
The Blues squeezed to a 1-0 win at Stamford Bridge thanks to a goal from defender Marc Cucurella. The home fans had to wait until the final quarter for the deadlock to be broken on a nervy evening.
The result saw Chelsea leapfrog Manchester City and move level on points with Newcastle United in the bid for Champions League qualification. Both the Magpies and Chelsea have 66 points with United's game in hand coming against second-placed Arsenal on Sunday.
It remains incredibly tight at the top. Aston Villa's 2-0 win over Spurs keeps them in the hunt and with the final game of the season next Sunday, it is going to be a tense affair.
Chelsea were under severe pressure going into the game. They lost 2-0 at Newcastle last week to ramp up the doubts that they could finish in the top five. It felt like a significant blow that they may not recover from.
Having spent more than £1.5billion on transfers since Todd Boehly's takeover, Chelsea can't afford to miss out on the riches on offer from playing in Europe's top tier competition. With PSR issues potentially looming, the pressure is on manager Enzo Maresca and the board.
In a rare communication publicly from those in charge at Stamford Bridge, there was a column in the matchday programme for the Man United game which attempted to calm nerves, justify the progress of the club and claim success. It was penned and attributed to a quartet of senior figures at Chelsea - Jason Gannon (president and chief operating officer), Aki Mandhar (Chelsea Women's chief executive officer), and co-sporting directors Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart,
They wrote: "As we welcome you to the Stamford Bridge today for one last time in the 2024/25 season, there is still plenty to play for with both our men's and women's teams soon to compete in cup finals.
"With two league matches remaining of the campaign, we are in contention to qualify for next season's UEFA Champions League which is where this fantastic club belongs.
"We can assure you that everyone at Chelsea Football Club is working tirelessly to ensure we carry on progressing and improving, season after season."
The Chelsea transfer strategy has also been widely panned since the takeover from Roman Abramovic. With a recruitment drive aimed at buying young players, focusing on potential and development rather than immediate world class quality, the returns have been a long way from those of the past two decades.
Defending the approach and explaining the club's aims, the directors wrote: "This group continues to grow together. We invested in highly talented players with bright futures to establish a sustainable team, while continuing to align the Academy and first team to allow talented youngsters the best opportunities to make that step up."
The rarity of the comms was commented on by a number of Chelsea watchers. It was also noticeable that a number of senior figures at the club joined the players and staff on the pitch after the game for scenes of celebration and thanks with the fans.
No wonder that Maresca and his coaching staff celebrated wildly at full-time on Friday night. The Italian may have tried to play down the importance of Champions League football, talking about the progress being made and a Conference League final to come, but he showed his true feelings as alongside Willy Caballero and the rest of the coaching staff, he formed a huddle and jumped up and down as emotions poured following a significant victory.