“I was in Madrid” – Enzo Maresca admits to scouting trip last weekend | OneFootball

A major topic in today’s press conference ahead of next week’s Conference League final was the relationship between Enzo Maresca and Manuel Pellegrini.

Maresca was a player under the Betis manager at Malaga more than ten years ago, and then was a coach for him at West Ham more recently. The Chelsea manager spoke in glowing terms about how Pellegrini was a “reference” for him, as he has done on a few occasions before.

Pellegrini’s influence on Maresca as player and coach

Manuel Pellegrini and Enzo Maresca split screen. (Photo by Octavio Passos/Getty Images)

He said he “spoke with Manuel” before taking the Chelsea job a year ago.

“That kind of decision, I speak with Manuel… We both want to win, no doubt. He is going to try his best to win the game and I am going to do exactly the same.

“I try to learn things from all the managers [I work with]. Today, where I am, it’s also because of Manuel and the things I learned from him. How to manage the players, the changing room, and things around the club. I try to learn many things.”

Maresca makes scouting trip

Maresca also revealed that he’d taken advantage of his team’s Friday night fixture to go on a scouting trip to check out what his mentor is working with at the moment:

“Sunday I was in Madrid watching Atletico Madrid – Betis live,” the Chelsea boss explained.

He will have liked what he saw, at least from a Chelsea point of view. Atletico took Betis apart, winning 4-1 after some really sloppy defending to from Pellegrini’s team, which was at pretty much full strength.

They will be far more motivated for the final of course, and will be in a neutral stadium, but their weaknesses were there for all to see. They’ve conceded 49 goals this season, which is only a couple fewer than the teams sitting in 16th and 17th in La Liga.