“Exactly” – Enzo Maresca on Chelsea’s plans if they beat Benfica – Blues handed significant advantage | OneFootball

The Club World Cup has been super hectic for Chelsea so far. Two games a week for two weeks in a row, culminating in a second round match against Benfica tonight.

So far Enzo Maresca has picked two very strong teams and one slightly rotated side. We expect him to return to his favoured XI tonight. That means a lot of players will have played 3 of 4 games, hardly ideal after an intense season.

But should they win tonight they get almost a week off, as Enzo Maresca acknowledged in his press conference last night.

Maresca on potential rest for regular starters

Enzo Maresca on the touchline in the Club World Cup. (Photo by Alex Grimm/Getty Images)

“Exactly [we will give a break to players if we qualify]. First of all, we need to do our job tomorrow. And as you said, in case we win, we’re going to play the next game in six days. The plan at the moment is tomorrow’s game and then a few days off, and then prepare for the next game. But as I said, you cannot prepare for the next game if we don’t win tomorrow. So first of all, focus on tomorrow’s game, all the attention for tomorrow, and hopefully we can win.”

Of course he’s keen not to get ahead of himself, and Benfica will be a step up in terms of challenge, but it’s inevitable for everyone to be working out what will happen should we win tonight.

Excellent draw gives Chelsea perfect chance to power up for semis and beyond

The draw has already set us up pretty nicely, with a potential quarter final against Palmeiras or Botafogo, and playing on the first day of second round games gives us an extra day or two to rest over most teams.

Physically, the toughest period should be behind us after tonight.