The head coach made seven changes from the Chelsea team that outclassed Tottenham in a 1-0 Premier League win last weekend. The Italian decided to rest the likes of Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez, Pedro Neto, Garnacho, and more, for their trip to Azerbaijan but they missed their heavy hitters in this clash. Despite the result, Maresca says rotation is key after their Club World Cup exploits this summer.
He said at a press conference: “The intention is always, you know, when we make changes, is because the intention is always, because we think that the plan with the players that they start against is the correct one. I think today, I don’t know, the feeling that it’s about, you know, is more, because we start in the right way, we score the goal, and then, again, we concede two goals, especially in the first one with 10 players. So, for me, the big difference today (Wednesday) has been, especially in the second box, in our box, we concede two goals that we can avoid, and in their box, for the amount of times that we are there, probably we can be more clinical.”