Chelsea centre back Tosin Adarabioyo bluntly rejected the idea that he and his teammates lost to Bayern Munich due to a lack of experience—a theory which his manager Enzo Maresca had been all too happy to accept.
The Blues were defeated 3–1 by Bayern Munich in Germany on Wednesday evening. All three of the hosts’ goals were avoidable and European naivety was quickly raised as an explanation for the sloppy performance.
As Chelsea’s own website highlighted heading into their first Champions League tie of the season, the club’s squad collectively boasted just 117 appearances in the competition. Bayern Munich, by comparison, could lay claim to 860.
When these figures were put to Maresca postmatch, he agreed: “In terms of experience, there was a huge difference. Even with that, we competed in the right way in this stadium against this team. I came here before with different teams, it is so difficult to come here and compete, you can’t come here and dominate for 90 minutes.”
Tosin, who was making his fourth Champions League appearance, insisted that experience and seniority played no part. “Age has got absolutely nothing to do with it,” he argued. “You saw what we did in the Club World Cup to become world champions.”
Instead, Tosin pointed towards the quality of Bayern Munich. “They’ve achieved great things in their league and throughout the Champions League,” he explained. “In the past few seasons they’ve reached quarter-finals, semi-finals back-to-back. They’re a very good side.”
“We have full belief that we’re fully capable to achieve a lot in this competition too,” Tosin added. “Whenever we’re playing, whenever we’re fighting for anything, we go all the way. We always try to fight for the highest and that is winning the Champions League.”
The 27-year-old defender is the second-oldest player on Chelsea’s books. Only Raheem Sterling can boast more candles on his next birthday cake but the 30-year-old is actively not part of the first-team squad. The topic of Sterling’s exile—and that of Axel Disasi—recently earned little sympathy from Maresca, who delivered some more comments which many onlookers may also question.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as ‘Absolutely Nothing’—Chelsea Star Dismisses Enzo Maresca Verdict.
