Enzo Maresca was in fearsome form after Chelsea beat Benfica 4-1 after extra time to qualify for the Club World Cup quarter finals.
The manager celebrated wildly on the touchline as Christopher Nkunku put his team ahead, and after the game spoke passionately in his press conference about the storm safety delay which stopped the game for 90 minutes.
“I am proud of the performance, very proud. The performance for me stopped at 85 minutes. Then they stopped the game and this started a completely new game,” the Chelsea coach explained.
“When you are inside [the dressing room] for more than one hour, it’s not easy, but we continued to play and I think the reward has been one that we deserved. We are in the final eight teams in this competition and we are very happy.”
Maresca sticks the boot in on FIFA organisation
In other comments, the Chelsea boss called the decision to take the players off the pitch with just 5 minutes to play a “joke” and claimed the match shouldn’t have been played somewhere this was a serious risk:
“It’s a joke. It’s not the same game if you stop it for two hours. I understand the stoppage for safety reasons, but [if there is a risk of this] Charlotte is probably not the right place to play such a game of football.”
Chelsea manager keen to not insult prestige of cup he’s still in
He then was careful to make clear he wasn’t unhappy about the Club World Cup on the whole – in fact he’s been positive about the tournament all along.
“Guys, please don’t misunderstand me. I said it’s a fantastic competition. It’s the Club World Cup. It’s top. We are happy to be in the last eight. We are happy to win all these kind of things.
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