Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca did not hold back with a brutal message to the Blues’ doubters after they qualified for next season’s Champions League.
A miserable run of form in 2025 left Chelsea in a real battle to qualify for Europe’s top competition next season but, after a 2–2 draw with Ipswich Town in April left them outside the qualification spots, five wins from their last six games saw Maresca‘s side seal fourth place in the Premier League standings.
Sunday’s 1–0 win over Nottingham Forest brought an end to a tumultuous domestic campaign which has seen Maresca and the Chelsea squad face unenviable scrutiny at times but, having proven all his doubters wrong, the Blues boss delivered a powerful message after the final whistle.
“I didn’t have any doubt about the players,” he began. “The doubt was from outside.
“All the ones that have the answers or the ones that have the truth, they were saying that we are too young, we are not good enough, they were waiting for Aston Villa to drop points for us to achieve the Champions League. They were saying that we were not able to win on this pitch because we are too young, because we are not experienced. Unfortunately for them, they have all been wrong. All the ones that have the truth and have the answer to everything.
“So in English, how you say? ‘F off’ to all of them, because the players deserve that. The effort they have been doing is fantastic.”
Maresca also assured Chelsea’s critics that, despite the ongoing wave of media uncertainty surrounding the club, everybody inside Stamford Bridge are on the same page in their push to take Chelsea back to the top of the pile.
“I’m very happy for many reasons,” he continued. “First of all, because I think the players deserve it.
“Since day one they have been working very, very hard. With the club, with the owners, with the sporting directors, the players, we all go in the same direction. And I said many times during the season that the noise was more from outside than from inside.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Enzo Maresca Sends Explicit Message to Chelsea Doubters After European Qualification.
