Chelsea have secured qualification for the UEFA Champions League. Levi Colwill fired the Blues to a 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest at the City Ground on Sunday afternoon, breaking the deadlock shortly after the break.
The west Londoners have ended the Premier League season in fourth place on 69 points. By finishing in the top five, Chelsea have been given a major boost to their hopes of significantly strengthening in the summer.
Suddenly, Stamford Bridge becomes an even more attractive destination for top players in Europe. In the meantime, though, Enzo Maresca must turn his attention to the UEFA Conference League final.
The west London outfit will lock horns with Real Betis at the Stadion WrocÅ‚aw in Poland on Wednesday night, and it’ll be a brilliant opportunity to win a major trophy. If Chelsea walk away victorious, Brighton will be secure qualification to the Conference League by virtue of finishing eighth in the Premier League.
Maresca has always understood the significance of securing qualification for the Champions League. Speaking to reporters ahead of Chelsea’s clash against Forest, the Italian said: “It’s a huge boost [getting Champions League football], for everyone.
“For the fans, for the club, for the players. That is the dream that we are chasing, and hopefully we can be celebrating that at the end of the game.
“We have been there all season and now we want to see the job out. We have prepared in the right way and now we want to end the season in a special way.”
In a separate interview with club media, Maresca urged his players to silence the critics. The Chelsea boss said: “We needed to manage noise at the beginning, but I said many times that the noise was more from outside than inside.
“Since I joined, inside the club it looked like quite a normal situation. Since I joined the club for me it’s been quite clear the noise was more outside, but inside it’s been quite normal.
“But it’s all about results for me. You have more noise if you don’t get results, but you have less noise if you get results.”
Maresca added: “When we were second earlier in the season, in December, everyone was happy and said Chelsea were back. Then in February we dropped points and everyone said that Chelsea was not good enough.
“So, in the end, it is about results and for sure if we are able to finish in the right way there will be less noise. But then in September if we lose games there will be big noise. But it’s a normal thing at a big club like Chelsea.”
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