Moment of madness: Nicolas Jackson’s red card at Newcastle could have proven so costly to Chelsea’s Champions League qualification bid
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Enzo Maresca says Nicolas Jackson is “in debt” to his Chelsea team-mates after his red card at Newcastle - and challenged the striker to make amends in Wednesday night’s Conference League final.
Jackson put the Blues’s Champions League hopes at risk with a needless dismissal at St James’s Park earlier this month, when he was sent off for a first-half elbow on Sven Botman.
Chelsea went on to lose that game 2-0 and then had to play their final two Premier League matches of the season without a recognised centre-forward, with Christopher Nkunku and Marc Guiu both injured.
Fortunately, Maresca’s men rose to the challenge, beating Manchester United with academy graduate Tyrique George deputising as a makeshift striker and then downing Nottingham Forest with Pedro Neto leading the line.
Jackson is expected to return to the Chelsea starting lineup against Real Betis in Wroclaw on Wednesday and Maresca believes he has some making up to do.
“I hope so, because I think Nico is in debt with his team-mates,” Maresca said on Tuesday. “The reason why is because in that moment, Newcastle away was for us the most important game, and he left his team-mates with 10 players for one hour.
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“So for sure, he’s in debt. For sure, he’s a good guy. For sure, he recognised the mistake.
“He apologised to his team-mates. That is very important. And I’m sure that tomorrow he’s going to do a very good game for us.”
Jackson did not make a Conference League appearance until the second leg of the quarter-final win over Legia Warsaw but scored twice in the semi-final victory against Djurgarden.
He also scored a crucial winning goal against Everton at the end of April and captain Reece James insists the rest of the Chelsea squad retain full confidence in their No9.
“He obviously made a mistake,” James said. “He’s been so key for us this season. Since he arrived, he played a huge part in the way we want to play.
“What he’s done, getting sent off, is gone now. We’ve accepted the mistake, put it behind us and all eyes focus on tomorrow.”