Maresca preview ahead of Chelsea's Conference league final against Betis
20/05/2025
Cobham Training ground, Surrey, UK
20/05/2025
Cobham Training ground, Surrey, UK
Category
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SportsTranscript
00:00Okay, good afternoon and welcome to our UEFA Media Day ahead of next week's Conference
00:29League final against Raul Betis. We will have a full open live section and we'll take one
00:37or two questions because we've got a full media session today. Could you please start
00:43your question by identifying yourself and your publication? Who would like to get us started?
00:48Hi Enzo, you're up against Manuel Pellegrini, a man he played for, a man coached at West
01:00Ham, a man who you've described as being your kind of father figure of football. Just tell
01:07us how special this is and how difficult it is being in a final against someone who means
01:11so much to you.
01:12It's special, as you said. I spent four years with Manuel. He's a reference for me because
01:24of his career, because of his history and especially because in terms of human being he's top person.
01:34I define him as a professional dad because many times when I need to take big decisions,
01:43we are in contact. Yeah, it's for that.
01:49Have you speak to him before this game? Or do you know how to think because you know him?
01:54I spoke with Manuel yesterday, to be honest. We are so close that we spoke in the past a
02:02lot and we continue to speak now in the present and in the future.
02:06What was he saying?
02:07No, no, I think it's just a personal thing.
02:10Gary?
02:11I'm sure you spent all weekend, beginning of this week, telling your players it's all about
02:21Forest, it's all about this massive final game in the Premier League, don't think ahead
02:25to this European final. And then today you're saying to them, well actually forget what I
02:30said yesterday, the next few hours we're going to talk about the European final. How do you
02:34cope with that interruption to your week?
02:37I didn't see the players since my United game, so I will see them today because yesterday
02:44for a personal reason I was not here and then we had Saturday and Sunday off, so I will
02:50see the players today and the focus is just in this moment just about Nottingham and then
02:57after the final we're going to be focused on the final.
03:01You say that but you can't because they're all going to be wheeled out today to talk about
03:05the final. How do you manage that?
03:08Yeah, I'm here to talk about the final with you, not with the players. With the players
03:13the players, the main target is Forest. Don't worry, they're going to be focused on Sunday
03:20and then Tuesday, Wednesday.
03:22John?
03:23Isco is a top player, his career speaks for himself, many years with Real Madrid. We played
03:35together when Isco was very young. He joined us from Valencia and we had a top team. The
03:43striker was Rude Van Nistelrooy, we had Isco, we had Joaquin, we had Santi Casorla, me. That
03:55was a top team.
03:56John?
03:57I'm not happy, 100%. You cannot allow a team 48 hours more than the other team when
04:17you play European competition final.
04:19So you think you should be allowed to play on Friday?
04:24Oh, they play Sunday like us.
04:26One other question, during this competition you played with a lot of young players in
04:32the team, you had a lot of squad players in the team, so how do you approach it now?
04:37Do you play your strongest XI or do you stick with the formula that you've had so far?
04:42For each game we try to play our strong XI, so if during the season we play conference
04:48league with a different team or with different players, but we were sure in that moment that
04:53for that game it was the strongest one and we'll see for the final.
04:58Simon.
04:59Hi Anthony, Simon Johnson, The Athletic. Speaking about selection, do you have decisions
05:05to make over the goalkeeper?
05:07Yeah, Philip is going to play the final.
05:18And why is that?
05:20Because he played all the competition, so it's unfair now that you arrive to the final and
05:26he's not playing the final. So for Betis game it will be Philip plus ten players, I don't
05:31know which one the other ten players are, but for sure Philip is going to play because
05:36he deserves to play that final, that game.
05:41And will any of the players that have been in the game?
05:45No, at the moment Marguiou and Christon Kunku start to take part of our session, but they
05:51are both still not 100%.
05:58Let's talk about this final. For you, it's your first major final as a coach, you've
06:03had a long experience as a player. How are you preparing for the pressure? How do you compare
06:09being a coach and being a player in the game?
06:14The main target is for sure, personally it's important, but the main target is to win again
06:25a European competition with Chelsea. I think it's something important for the club in this
06:31moment for the fans, for everyone, because it means that we are going in the right direction.
06:38Personally, I will try to prepare the game exactly in the same way I prepare all the rest, because
06:45I consider every game important. For sure it's a final that at the end decide the title, but
06:52we're going to try to prepare the game in our best and hopefully we can win the title.
06:57What do you guys experience here in the competition? How important was it for your group to play?
07:11Very important, first of all because you need to build a winner mentality and you cannot win
07:17the Europa League or the Champions League if you are in the conference. You are in that
07:22competition and you have to be focused to win that competition. So for sure this is an
07:26decision to help the players to win games and it's the only way to build a winner mentality.
07:35Now we are close to the last step and hopefully we can win the title.
07:43What did Manuel Pellegrini do for you as a player and what did he say to you that helped you become a coach in the future?
07:54I try to learn things from all the managers. For sure if today I am where I am, it's also because of Manuel, the things that I learned with him.
08:05In terms of how to manage players, how to manage changing rooms, how to manage difficult situations, noise around the club is a reference.
08:16He is very close in the way he manages things with Carlo Ancelotti. So they are quite close in that sense.
08:23So I tried to learn many things. Then I had him as a player two years and then almost two years I worked with him as a coach.
08:33So for me it was enough time to try to learn as much as possible from him.
08:37Do you think he should go down as one of the great coaches towards the end of his career or more towards the start of your managerial career?
08:44If you see his history, for sure. Real Madrid won the Premier League with City, semi-final with Villarreal Champions League,
08:53quarter-final or semi-final with Malaga, now final with Betis, for sure.
08:59From the point around the scheduling, do you think that's something where you wait for a team to step in and say that the Betis game should be on the final?
09:11I don't know if it's from the Liga, from the Premier League or from the UEFA.
09:16I don't know how many we are in this room, but if I ask you if it's normal to play a final where a team has 48 hours more than the other team,
09:22I think it's not normal, it's not something correct.
09:25Now, if it's the UEFA, the Liga or the Premier League, I don't know, to be honest.
09:30Obviously, it's something that's going to be decided by La Liga or the Premier League, so do you think there needs to be clear rules around these kind of games,
09:39from UEFA, because they're the ones who don't control it?
09:42Absolutely, yes.
09:44Rob?
09:45Do you think there's a case to be made for a Premier League club if you could not take part in the competition?
09:55The point of the European competition is necessary to step up now, and that clearly hasn't been the case for most of the teams themselves?
10:02It's not my job to say that. My job is to see if it's correct or not, and for me it's not correct.
10:08Then if for different things it's not my job.
10:11Peter?
10:15You said that you spoke to Manuel Pellegrini before making some decisions, did you speak to him about taking you to Chelsea?
10:22With Manuel Pellegrini? Yes.
10:25What did he say? What was his advice?
10:27This is personal things.
10:29Sunday I was in Madrid watching Atletico Madrid bet is live, and as I said before I spoke many times with Manuel in the past,
10:38and also for Chelsea's job. In that kind of decision I used to speak also with Manuel.
10:46Andy?
10:47Hi, Andrew. Andy didn't put this on. Does it put a strain on a friendship in a game like this? Because you're both fierce competitors?
10:57Yes, both we want to win, no doubt. But he's going to try his best to prepare the game and win the game. I will do exactly the same.
11:12And then the good thing is that nothing changed after the game in terms of relation.
11:19So, as I said before, we are very close with Manuel. We also live, when we don't work, we live in the same place. We live very close in Spain.
11:30So, it's not just about relation in football, it's relation in life. And Manuel's age is my dad's age. So, when I used to sit next to people older than me, I always tried to learn because they can teach us in any moment because they have more experience than us.
11:49So, Manuel is not just a colleague. For me, it's a reference and it's a top person.
11:59So, does he spend summers together?
12:01No, sir.
12:03May I also ask about Anthony. Is it down to him? He clearly was unhappy at Manchester United but has gone to Real Betis and turned himself around. Is that a lot down to Pellegrini?
12:18Do you think that he's got that ability to do that with an unhappy player?
12:22I don't know the best. I don't know.
12:24We'll do two more. Frank and Antonella.
12:29Frank.
12:30Yes, Arthur from Holland. Obviously, you've played some European finals. Is there anything from those finals that you've tried to provide to your players?
12:41Maybe some specific things. Because the European finals, you have something different.
12:46Win. Win. Win. As a player, I think...
12:51As a player, I played four European competition finals to Europa League.
12:57When you win Europa League, you have to play Super Cup finals against the team that won the Champions League.
13:02I've been lucky because we won three over four and we lost one. But the main thing in this kind of final, I don't know which manager, but an important manager said,
13:15you don't play final, you just win final. And you know who is. So, for the final, we want to try to win the final.
13:23And has the European League been a good platform for a lot of young players that you have seen?
13:28Yeah, it has been kind of like, you'll be able to see many more players than you otherwise would have been able in a competitive fashion?
13:35We also use academy players in the Premier League, not just in the conference.
13:41When we see a young player, we give them a chance. The last game against Man United, our striker was suspended,
13:50our second striker was injured, our two wingers were out for different reasons.
13:55Jadon because it's not possible. Misha, it's already a long time. We play with the number nine
14:03and we try to be creative with the number nine from the second team.
14:07So, if they are good players, it's OK to allow them to play.
14:11We'll finish with Antonella.
14:13Hi Antonella, I'm from Ivana Publica.
14:15Just as you have, you've got two crucial matches ahead.
14:21And whatever you have from those games, can I ask you more in general,
14:26what is the most important thing that you learned from this first season at Champions League?
14:31And what do you think that you are most proud of?
14:36In terms of learn, I said before, I try to learn from every game, every session,
14:43because I really believe that in any game you can learn and in any session also you can learn things.
14:49So, I try to learn as much as I can from every game.
14:54Also, I think it's been important to manage a little bit different kind of situation since I joined the club.
15:02And in terms of proud, I really like, I think we are very close to finish the season.
15:09I think we are a good season that can become very good in terms of numbers we are improving.
15:19But the most important thing is to see players that, from my point of view, they are improving.
15:24So, in terms of manager, it's something that I feel proud of.
15:28OK, thanks very much.
15:30Thank you. Thank you.