Former Chelsea star makes Maresca and Mourinho comparison and backs Blues to win more trophies after Conference League triumph | OneFootball

Frank Sinclair hopes Enzo Maresca’s first trophy at Chelsea can have a similar impact as Jose Mourinho’s League Cup win back in 2005.

Sinclair spent eight years at Chelsea as a player, winning the League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup with the club.

And the former Jamaica international said winning the Conference League can be huge for Chelsea and their manager, drawing comparisons to Mourinho’s first trophy win at the club.

“It’s going to have a strong impact on them because what Enzo Maresca is trying to achieve at Chelsea is create a winning philosophy that the players buy into,” he told Hayters TV on behalf of William Hill.

“And there’s no better way to get the trust of the players than by winning things.

“I know it’s not a massive competition but we created history by becoming the first team to have a clean sweep of all the European competitions. That’s something to be proud of. I was obviously part of the Cup Winners’ Cup team, so I feel a part of that history that they created yesterday.

“When Jose Mourinho took over at Chelsea all those years ago the first competition he won was the League Cup and people belittled that. Then when he said ‘I’m the special one’, you couldn’t take that comment lightly after he won a trophy in his first season.”

Maresca also backed his side to build on their Conference League win next season, having achieved qualification for the Champions League too by finishing fourth in the Premier League.

“I’m very proud and I’m very happy for many reasons,” Maresca said after the win over Real Betis. “For sure, personally I feel good, but also because I know the fans deserve that. They are waiting already for two or three years for good moments so they deserve that.

“The club has invested lots of money in the last three or four years so they are always waiting for it.

“Hopefully this can be a starting point from tonight, and we can create something important.”