CHELSEA boss Enzo Maresca questioned why Real Betis have 48 hours more to prepare for the Conference League final – and called on UEFA to have clearer rules to prevent such a situation from happening.
The Blues travel to the City Ground to face Champions League rivals Nottingham Forest this Sunday at 4pm.
Betis, meanwhile, will already be two days into their preparations for the final in Wrocław, Poland, next Wednesday after their La Liga game at home against Valencia on Friday.
Chelsea are fifth heading into the final day of the Premier League season. They have to beat Forest to guarantee finishing in the Champions League places. If they draw and Newcastle United beat Everton at home and Aston Villa win at Manchester United, they will drop into the Europa League. A defeat against Nuno Espirito Santo’s side will end their Champions League hopes, no matter what happens elsewhere.
Maresca was this week asked about the difference in preparation periods in his press conference ahead of the game against Forest.
“I’m not happy, 100 per cent,” Maresca said. “You cannot allow a team 48 hours more than the other team when you play the final of a European competition.
“I don’t know if it’s from La Liga, the Premier League or UEFA. If I ask you if it is normal to play a final where a team has 48 hours more than the other team, it is not normal. I think it’s not something correct. Now, if it’s UEFA, La Liga or the Premier League, I don’t know, to be honest.”
Asked if UEFA need to have clear rules ahead of European finals, Maresca replied: “Absolutely, yes.”
Maresca has heavily rotated his team as the Blues have comfortably reached the final, defeating Sweden’s Djurgårdens 5-1 on aggregate in the semi-final after winning all six of their games in the league format.
Forward Nicolas Jackson will be available after being suspended for the last two league games. Maresca can also call on Jadon Sancho after he couldn’t face his parent club Manchester United in the Blues’ 1-0 win against Rubin Amorim’s side in their last game, when academy graduate Tyrique George led the line.
Maresca confirmed that his second-choice goalkeeper would start against the Spanish side.
Maresca said: “Yes, Filip Jorgensen is going to play the final. Because he played all the competition it would be unfair now that we arrive in the final and he’s not playing in the final. So for the Betis game it will be Filip plus ten players. I don’t know which ones the other ten will be, but for sure Filip is going to play because he deserves to play in that final.”
Maresca added: “For each game we try to play a strong eleven. If during the season we played in the Conference League with different players, we were sure in that moment for that game it was the strongest one and we will see for the final.
“We also use academy players in the Premier League, not just in the Conference League. When we see a young player we give them a chance. In the last game against Man United our striker [Jackson] was suspended, our second striker [Marc Guiu] was injured, our two wingers were out for different reasons – Jadon because it was not possible, Misha [Mudryk] has been out a long time – so we played and tried to be creative with a No.9 from the academy. If they are good players it is okay to allow them to play.”
Maresca played under Betis boss Manuel Pelligrini at Malaga and was then his assistant coach at West Ham United.
Maresca was in Madrid on Sunday to watch Betis as they lost 4-1 to Atletico and the pair spoke as recently as Monday.
“He’s a reference for me because of his career, because of his history and especially because in terms of a human being he’s a top person,” Maresca said. “I define him like a professional dad because many times when I need to take a big decision we are in contact.
“We both want to win, no doubt. He is going to try his best to prepare to win the game and I will do exactly the same. The good thing is that nothing will change after the game in terms of our relationship. We are very close. When we don’t work we live in the same place, very close in Spain. It’s not just about a relationship in football, it is a relationship in life.
“Manuel is the same age as my dad and when I sit next to people older than me I always try to learn because they can teach us in any moment, because they are more experienced than us. So Manuel is not just a colleague, for me he is a reference and a top person.”
