A defiant performance against Manchester City could deliver silverware in a year in which the club has already sacked two head coaches
C
helsea fared well as underdogs in their most recent outing in a final. They surprised Paris Saint-Germain in last summer’s Club World Cup, racing into an unassailable 3-0 lead by half-time and disrupting the European champions thanks to a clever tactical approach from Enzo Maresca.
Perhaps there will be more of the same at Wembley. Chelsea have form when it comes to upsetting the odds in a big game, although the one problem with bringing up the PSG win before Saturday afternoon’s FA Cup final against Manchester City is that the challenge of coming up with a plan smart enough to beat Pep Guardiola is no longer Maresca’s responsibility.
The subplot is that it is quite possibly a clash between Maresca’s past and his future. For Chelsea, the moment when a season of promise began its descent into chaos is, from their perspective, when their former head coach began to act like a man who wanted to leave. The infamous comment from Maresca about his “worst 48 hours” at the club after the win over Everton in December still clouds the air at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea’s reaction will be interesting if Guardiola steps down at the end of the season and Maresca, the leading candidate to replace his former boss, joins City.
