JAKARTA - Enzo Maresca believes that the elimination of Atletico Madrid earlier than the 2025 Club World Cup should make Chelsea proud because it managed to reach the round of 16.
The Blues will face Benfica in the last 16 in Charlotte on Sunday, June 29, 2025, early morning WIB, after beating Esperance de Tunis 3-0 in the final group stage through goals from Tosin Adarbioyo, Liam Delap, and Tyrique George.
They ended the group stage in second place with a collection of six points after packing two wins and one defeat.
Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid were eliminated from a tight group. They lost to Paris Saint-Germain and Botafogo who made sure to qualify for the knockout stages.
"This is important to us because 32 clubs have participated in this tournament, now there are 16. There are clubs in the last five or six years, they have played in the Champions League final, like Atletico Madrid and they are already in Spain."
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"So, we have to be proud, we have to be happy. Now, from the top 16, the target is to enter the top eight," said Maresca.
Despite that, Delap marked an encouraging performance in the hot conditions of Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, with his first goal since joining Chelsea from Ipswich Town for 30 million pounds earlier this month.
"We hope the process will be fast enough with Liam. The reason is, we know him and he knows us. He knows the way we want to play."
"For Dorio Essugo, for Mamadou (Sarr), or even for Andrey (Santos) who just joined last pre-season, it will be a little more complicated because they don't know how to play properly."
"However, Liam as I said, we know each other very well so the process is quite fast. It's also because he is a very good player," said Maresca.
Maresca ruled out the possibility of making any changes to his squad as tournament rules allowed up to two players to be added before the round of 16.
Wesley Fofana has trained with the team as he tries to return after undergoing hamstring surgery in April 2025.
"For Wes (Fofana), he is here because he is trying to be with us, to recover with us."
"However, there is no possibility that he can get involved in the squad. There are currently no plans to sign other players," said Maresca.
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