‘We didn’t expect it’: Man City stand-ins teach Chelsea a lesson in Maresca debut

Pep Guardiola’s decision to give many of Manchester City’s star players more time to recover from Euro 2024 paid dividends on Sunday when their stand-ins helped the defending champions to a 2-0 win at Chelsea under new coach Enzo Maresca.

Kyle Walker, John Stones and Phil Foden — stalwarts for England in their run to the Euro final in July — were on the bench at Stamford Bridge and Spain's Rodri was out of the squad altogether as he recovers from an injury picked up in Germany.

In came right-back Rico Lewis and winger Savinho who both tormented Chelsea while Mateo Kovacic, Rodri’s understudy, sealed the win with City’s second goal in the 84th minute after Erling Haaland, fresh from a whole summer off, opened the scoring in the 18th minute.

“We didn't expect it. We are away from our best so three points is the good news. For me it is an honour to be in charge of these guys. I'm so fortunate, I could not say more,” Guardiola said when asked about the players who stepped up.

He paid tribute to Kovacic for his role in replacing Rodri whose absences last season coincided with City's three defeats in the league.

“His mum and dad gave [us] an incredible human being, he is a top-class person. Top.”

City are seeking a fifth straight Premier League title having already made history by winning the past four in a row though they face the risk of punishment for alleged breaches of financial rules, claims that the club denies.

Unlike City's decision to rest their Euro stars, Chelsea started with Spain’s Marc Cucurella and England's Cole Palmer who both appeared in the tournament final in Berlin on July 14.

The Blues showed flashes of the style that Chelsea’s big-spending US owners — now on their fourth permanent manager since they bought the club in 2022 — hope will bring success back to west London.

But in the end, Maresca’s side were mostly reduced to unlikely penalty appeals and a fluffed attempt by Nicolas Jackson before Kovacic settled the game.

Palmer — Chelsea's runaway top scorer last season with 22 goals — was largely kept quiet by City’s defence, and new signings Pedro Neto and Marc Guiu failed to pierce the visitors’ back line.

Maresca said he saw progress and pointed to some fine margins in the game, with Haaland's opening goal standing after a narrow offside decision went City's way while Nicolas Jackson was adjudged offside when he scored what would have been an equaliser.

“We competed for large parts of the game,” the Italian said. “For some moments, we were even better. We created chances.

“And I think the big difference today between us and them was especially inside the box and the way they managed the ball in the last part of the game.”

Reuters