Chelsea secured a two-goal advantage over the Swiss side in the first leg of their UEFA Conference League play-off, with second-half goals from Christopher Nkunku and Noni Madueke sealing Maresca’s first win in charge.
Nkunku’s spot-kick settled the nerves after the Frenchman was brought down by goalkeeper Jeremy Frick, before Marc Guiu was guilty of an astonishing miss as he spurned an open goal after catching Frick in possession.
Noni Madueke scored the second to double Chelsea’s advantage in the tie, though Maresca expressed concern with how his side closed out the contest.
“It was important to win the game, and have a clean sheet,” said Maresca in his post-match press conference.
“We did nine changes, we had players [who needed minutes] like Renato [Veiga], Axel [Disasi], Pedro [Neto], even Marc [Guiu], Filip [Jorgensen]. There were many good things.
“At some moments I really liked the team, on and off the ball, especially at the beginning of the game. We were very aggressive and created some chances. We started the same way second half, aggressive on and off the ball. We played really well, but also there were some moments we can manage better, but that’s normal.
“The last ten minutes we played a little bit with fire. I was a bit worried. We could have managed the game in a different way. I expected it because we are in a moment of learning things.
“In some moments the intention to keep the ball is the correct one, especially when you are 2-0 up, but where is not good. We tried to manage the ball in the last 10 or 15 minutes in our side of the pitch, we need to do exactly the same on the opposite side of the pitch. We didn’t concede, but from there we can learn.
“All of them need more time to know better the system. Tonight was also not easy in terms of physical condition for some of them.”
