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Enzo Maresca has confirmed Chelsea will uphold tradition by giving Liverpool a ‘deserved’ guard of honour on Sunday, adding their rivals were crowned champions of England as they had the experience to go the distance.
Arne Slot benefitted from having seniority in his side, with Alisson and Virgil van Dijk among those who have led their consistent title charge from the back.
Those two were mentioned when Maresca was asked if Chelsea needed similar experience in order to reach the next level, with the Blues boss citing Levi Colwill as someone who is growing into a leader under him.
‘For sure, if you want to close the gap with these kind of clubs then, for sure, you have to do things,’ Maresca said, speaking after Thursday’s Conference League semi-final first-leg win over Djurgarden in Stockholm, Sweden.
‘Our team next season will be better also in terms of experience, because this season has been one more year together.
‘There are ones who are growing, like Levi, for instance. He is growing a lot in terms of leadership. For sure, next sure he will be better and better.
Liverpool’s Alisson and Virgil van Dijk have become examples for the rest of the league
Maresca has tipped defender Levi Colwill to improve as he gains more experience
Enzo Maresca said Liverpool deserve the traditional guard of honour for their efforts this year
‘Hopefully the ones that we have, they can grow and help us in terms of experience. The (Legia) Warsaw game, we won 3-0 there and at home we struggled, and that has been a good experience.
‘But you have to go through this moment to learn. Now we can say, “OK guys, it’s already happened. It’s not going to happen again.” Otherwise that means there’s a problem. We need that kind of experience to improve.’
It remains to be seen whether Chelsea will bid to bring in such ‘experience’ in the transfer market, or if they will look to grow their own Alisson and Van Dijk internally while sticking to their strategy in signing younger stars.
On the guard of honour for Liverpool, Maresca added: ‘Yes. It’s tradition. We have to do that, and we are going to do that. They won the Premier League, so they deserve it.
‘In terms of the gap (between Chelsea and Liverpool), it is there, you can see this clearly. My feeling is we are (moving) in the right direction and hopefully this gap can be smaller and smaller and smaller.
‘The difference is they have been consistent compared to us. For part of the season, we were very good, then we lost some games.
Chelsea are as good as in the Conference League final after a 4-0 win over Djurgarden
Liverpool were crowned Premier League champions with five games to spare last weekend
Chelsea boss Marseca says there is still a clear gap between the Blues and the champions
This has probably been the main reason why. And also in terms of experienced players that know how to win games and these kinds of things, I think they have something more compared to us.’
Chelsea are as good as into the Conference League final after their 4-1 away win at Djurgarden.
With next week’s second leg set to be a formality, their full focus will be on securing a top-five finish in the Premier League, though Maresca also dismissed any idea that Liverpool will turn up jaded from their title celebrations.
