Enzo Maresca hails Reggie Walsh after Chelsea debut

Enzo Maresca has described 16-year-old Reggie Walsh as ‘perfect’ for his system after giving the teenager his debut against Djurgarden on Thursday night.

Chelsea put themselves in a commanding position, taking a 4-1 lead over their Swedish opponents, with Maresca feeling comfortable enough to give Walsh his debut in the closing stages.

Only three years old when the Blues first won the UEFA Champions League, Walsh had previously been named in two Chelsea squads for the Conference League, and was finally given the nod in the semi-final, almost scoring with his first touch.

“It’s a long time that I feel excited to give him the debut because he’s so good,” said Maresca. “He’s very young but in the way we want to play, in our style, he’s perfect.

“But he’s still very young, he needs to learn, he needs to work hard and he needs to grow, but we are happy.

“They just said to me that we gave eight debuts this season from the academy, I think it’s good.”

Asked what his message was to Walsh before his introduction, Maresca added: “Just to enjoy the moment, be happy, play in the way he’s training with us every day.

“In some days he worked with us and he’s so good because he makes everything easy.”

Considering their healthy lead, Walsh is likely to feature again in the second leg, but Maresca cites their struggles against Legia Warsaw to anybody thinking the Blues have already booked their place in the final.

“We plan the game in one way and finish in a different way,” said Maresca. “I think that the performance for one hour, 70 minutes, was a good performance, then we dropped a little bit the last 15, 20 minutes, probably because we were 0-3, 0-4, but that showed that we cannot allow ourselves to drop.

“The message is against Warsaw away we won 0-3 but then at home we struggled, so it’s a good experience. For sure, the next leg at home, we’re going to finish our job.”

Despite the 2-1 defeat at home to Legia Warsaw, there was never any jeopardy around the tie, and next week will have a similar feeling with Chelsea 1/7 to win on the night.

Liam Williams

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