- The majority of Chelsea’s first team were left at home for the European tie
- Youngsters impressed, however, with the bench made up of academy stars
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Enzo Maresca has heaped praise on his young Chelsea side that helped the Blues beat Astana in Kazakhstan on Thursday.
Chelsea confirmed their spot in the next round of the Conference League with a 3-1 win, racing into a 3-1 lead before their opponents got one back before half time.
Marc Guiu and Renato Viega were on the scoresheet for the visitors, with an Aleksandr Marochkin own goal putting the icing on the cake to continue the Blues’ perfect record in the competition.
Chelsea took a fringe side to the game, with a number of key players left at home and the likes of Samuel Rak-Sakyi (19), Josh Acheampong (18) and Tyrique George (18) all afforded starts and, in some cases, 90 minutes.
The substitutes’ bench was made up entirely of academy products, too, with Harvey Vale, Kiano Dyer and Shumaira Mheuka among those to be afforded minutes in the second half.
And after the game, Maresca spoke highly of his young team, picking out three players in particular for praise.
Enzo Maresca has heaped praise on his young Chelsea team after their win over Astana
Josh Acheampong was on the scoresheet and was one of three players singled out for praise
Maresca also praised the efforts of Tyrique George (left) and Samuel Rak-Sakyi (right)
‘I was impressed by all of them,’ the Italian said. ‘The ones that started, Tyrique, Sam and Josh, they all have done very good. Very happy for them.
‘Also, the ones that came on in the second half. So I’m pleased for them.’
Chelsea were playing in minus 15 degree conditions, with Maresca among those to wrap up in a stadium that saw the pitch at time prove difficult to play on.
Blues fans who made the journey to watch Maresca’s side were given a touching commerative gift to mark the mammoth journey, with the Conference League tie in Almaty is the furthest that the Blues have ever travelled for a European game, the Almaty Ortalyk stadium a staggering 3,485 miles from Stamford Bridge.
But the Blues remained professional to get the job done, and can now look forward to their spot in the next round of a competition they really should be winning.
Up next, it’s Brentford at the weekend as Maresca and Co look to continue their perhaps shock Premier League title charge.
‘We knew it would be cold,’ Maresca added. ‘We tried to adapt. The players did fantastically with the weather conditions, long flight yesterday and also the pitch probably was not ideal. But I’m very happy for the players.
‘We will land at around six o’clock (in the morning) UK time, but we are going to try to prepare the game in the best way we can as we have always done this season.’
