ENZO MARESCA EXPLAINS: WHY ESTEVAO WILLIAN STAYED ON THE BENCH DURING 2-1 UCL DEFEAT
Unused sub Estevao Willian showed his desire to win by kicking a cone in frustration after Chelsea conceded to Atalanta, a moment Maresca explained was due to an injury change.
Estevao Willian's disappointment was clear during Chelsea's 2-1 loss to Atalanta in the Champions League. The 18-year-old winger spent the whole match on the bench Tuesday night as Chelsea blew their lead.
Joao Pedro scored first for Chelsea, slipping the ball past Marco Carnesecchi. Even though they had a few more good chances, the Blues didn't score again before Atalanta tied the game.
Late in the game, Charles De Ketelaere scored, his shot deflecting past Robert Sanchez. With this loss, Chelsea has dropped out of the top eight and hasn't won in their last four games.
Estevao really wanted to play in Bergamo, but he remained a substitute. He warmed up in the second half and was near the field when Gianluca Scamacca scored the tying goal.
A fan caught Estevao's reaction to the goal and posted it on X (the social media platform previously known as Twitter). The young player was clearly upset when Atalanta scored, grabbing his shirt and saying something to himself before kicking a training cone.
He went back to warming up with Jorrel Hato, Andrey Santos, Marc Guiu, and Facundo Buonanotte. Even during this tough moment, Estevao's desire to play, his love for the game, and his will to win were obvious.
After the game, Maresca told reporters why Estevao didn't play. Tosin [Adarabioyo] had to come on because Wes [Fofana] needed to be subbed out; that was a change we had to make, the Chelsea coach said.
If we had another substitution available, Estevao or Andrey [Santos] probably would have played. But that change changed our plan for the game a bit.
Maresca talked about the difficulties of rotating the starting lineup: Tonight, our starting eleven included eight or nine players who also played against Tottenham, Barcelona, Wolves, and Arsenal.
We had eight or nine players who played in most of these matches. So, the five changes we made compared to the Bournemouth game were different.
But if you look at the team, we had eight or nine players who also played against Barcelona, Arsenal, Tottenham, Wolves, you know, those types of games. These are the players who are playing almost every game.
About the results, Maresca commented, "After we conceded, we lost some control of the match." In the first half, we scored a goal, allowed some chances, but also created a few of our own.
In the second half, we had two good opportunities to score another goal. But after they scored to tie the game, we lost control again, and then they scored a second time.
I think we could have stopped both goals. They were easy goals to avoid.
ALEJANDRO GARNACHO ADMITS "DOING WRONG THINGS" DURING FINAL MONTHS AT MANCHESTER UNITED
Alejandro Garnacho breaks silence on his Man Utd downfall. Read why he admits "doing the wrong things" before his Chelsea move.
Alejandro Garnacho has opened up about why things ended the way they did at Manchester United, admitting he played a part in how it all fell apart at Old Trafford.
At 21, Garnacho was once one of United's top young talents. He joined the club as a teenager back in 2020, but things turned bad pretty quickly after that early promise. Once he had a fallout with Ruben Amorim, he found himself pushed aside, and it was obvious he wasn’t going to stay in Manchester much longer.
That long, drawn-out £40 million move to Chelsea finally went through last summer. At the time, speaking in December, Garnacho said he didn’t regret how it ended at United. “Sometimes in life, you have to change things to move forward or get better as a player. This was the right club and [moving] was an easy decision,” he said.
But a few months later, talking with Premier League Productions, you could tell his feelings had shifted. He looked back at his last stretch at United and said, “I remember in the last six months, I just wasn’t playing like before. I started ending up on the bench. Not the worst thing, I was only 20, after all, but in my mind, I felt like I should be playing every game.”
Then he admitted, “Honestly, maybe some of it was on me. I started doing the wrong things. But that’s how life goes; you have to make decisions. I’m proud to still be in the Premier League and playing for a club like this.”
When someone asked if leaving United hurt, Garnacho got a little nostalgic. “Yeah, probably. I loved that club, you know? They believed in me from the start. They brought me from Spain to the academy and then to the first team. It was four or five years of love for the fans, the stadium, everything was really good."
"But sometimes, you have to make changes for your own good or the next step in your life. I only have good memories of Man Utd.”
JOE COLE SLAMS "DISGRACEFUL" ENZO FERNANDEZ COMMENTS; DEMANDS FIRM CHELSEA RESPONSE
Enzo Fernandez is suspended! Joe Cole warns Chelsea to take a firm stance against the star's Real Madrid transfer talk.
Chelsea have been told it’s time to lay down the law after Enzo Fernandez’s recent remarks about a possible future in Spain set off a wave of controversy. Joe Cole, one of their former wingers, says the club needs to make a clear call, especially with all the rumours linking Fernandez to Real Madrid.
Cole isn’t thrilled about this Fernandez situation popping up again. Once Fernandez started talking openly about how much he likes life in Madrid, the Real Madrid speculation heated up fast. Chelsea responded by suspending him for two games, including the big clash this weekend with Manchester City. Cole, looking at how the saga’s played out, warns that this is turning into a real problem.
Talking to Paddy Power, Cole pointed out the danger here: with the Fernandez drama happening more than once now, the club’s authority is starting to look shaky. In his words, Chelsea has reached a point where they can’t dodge the issue anymore; they need to be clear and decisive about what’s acceptable from their players.
"It’s tough," Cole said. “This isn’t even just about punishment, I mean, this is the second time Enzo’s done something like this. The club has to take a firm stance. Honestly, for players like Enzo, this isn’t what they signed up for when they joined Chelsea. Sure, I get why he’s frustrated, but coming out and talking about leaving just isn’t on. Now the club has to decide if the ban fits the crime. Eventually, if Enzo wants out, he needs to actually ask for a transfer, not just talk.”
He also thinks Chelsea holds all the cards, thanks to Fernandez’s deal running for years, until 2032. The priority, Cole says, needs to be protecting their team culture, not just keeping star players happy.
"We don’t really know how long this has all been bubbling under, but if Chelsea felt they had to suspend him for a match as big as City, nobody’s coming out ahead, neither the player nor the club," Cole added.
“If you’re running Chelsea, you just tell Enzo, ‘You’re with us for another five years. Keep acting out, and you’ll just be sitting on the bench, career on pause, wasting your weekly wage.’ I get it’s a mess, and I’m not sure there’s a perfect way through, but I haven’t seen a better solution so far.”
Still, Chelsea doesn’t want this to drag on. Their disciplinary decision is really about keeping standards high behind the scenes. Rosenior is focusing on building a team that holds itself together, not just a collection of stars. Chelsea still sees Fernandez as crucial to their plans and hopes this whole episode resets things, not sparks a bigger problem. With the race for Champions League football and an FA Cup semi-final against Leeds on the horizon, they want to settle things and get Enzo back on the pitch where he matters most.
