Malo Gusto on his difficult season and excitement at Estevao arrival | OneFootball

Malo Gusto has opened up on what was a difficult first season for him under Enzo Maresca, but says he has always remained focused.

The Frenchman joined Chelsea from French side Lyon in January 2023 before joining up with the squad that summer, and he enjoyed a brilliant first season for the club under Mauricio Pochettino.

Last campaign however was not so smooth for the full-back, who was asked to try something different under Maresca. He has regularly been asked to invert into midfield, where he does not look fully comfortable, but says he just wants to help the team.

“It’s important to do different things on the pitch, the coach asked me to do that and I tried to help the team as much as I can and I’m so happy to win through these games. The chance in football that you have is that we have a lot of games and even when one game is bad, the next can be good and the most important is to deal with that.

“You have to stay focused, stay strong in your mind and try to get better game by game. That’s what I always try to do.”

Gusto also said that mental strength has been a key focus for the entire squad during this competition, and that it’s a huge reason as to why they are in the semi-final: “During this competition, our mental strength has been the most important thing. That’s what we are in thes semi final because we’ve shown that on the pitch during all the games that we have had.

“Now it is not enough, we still have a semi final to play, we have a chance of the trophy and that’s what we must try to do.”

Chelsea faced Palmeiras in the last round and it was a great chance for the squad to see a future team-mate live in action, in Estevao. And Gusto said was very impressed by the Brazilian.

“He’s a good player, he will come to Chelsea soon and now we are happy to beat him because that was our objective but he’s a good player and we have a lot more in our squad now.

“As I said, we have a lot of players but if he comes to Chelsea then it’s because he’s good as well and will be part of this team.”