Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca pointed at the lack of time to recover after the summer’s Club World Cup as one of the reasons for their 2-2 draw against Qarabağ in the Champions League. The Blues went to Baku with the intention of getting an easy win but had to rescue their point with a second-half equaliser by Alejandro Garnacho after the home team had gone 2-1 up at the break.
The draw was the first time Qarabağ have not lost against English teams in eight matches of European competitions. Before Wednesday’s outcome, the Azerbaijani champions had lost all of thier seven encounters wuth English team
Maresca decided to heavily rotate his team with midfielders like Enzo Fernández and Moisés Caicedo were left on the bench while the defender Malo Gusto was given limited minutes.
However, Roméo Lavia was injured early seeing Caicedo come on early. Maresca said the players’ physical condition is not at the level as they have been busy till the end of the Club World Cup, which finished in the middle of July, and that is why he cannot always pick the same starting XI.
“The players are not able to play every three days,” he said. “The Club World Cup is very hard for us. When we win, no one talks about it. When we don’t, it becomes the only thing people talk about.”
Chelsea will be up against Wolves on Saturday in the Premier League after this draw.
