Maresca urges Chelsea to have their eyes on the prize despite 'perfect' Djurgarden result
Chelsea closed in on the Conference League final after thrashing Djurgarden 4-1 in their semi-final first leg tie on Thursday.
Enzo Maresca described Chelsea's semi-final first-leg victory over Djurgarden as "perfect" but reiterated that his players must stay focused in their bid to reach the Conference League final.
Maresca's team came out 4-1 victors at the 3Arena in Stockholm on Thursday, with goals from Jadon Sancho, Noni Madueke and Nicolas Jackson sealing the win.
Djurgarden did get on the scoresheet thanks to Isak Alemayehu's 68th-minute header.
Chelsea dominated for much of the match, ending the contest with an expected goals (xG) total of 2.17, though their opponents did register more shots (16 to 12).
Maresca acknowledged that his players lost their focus in the closing stages, and he wants to see them book their place in the final with the minimum of fuss, with Chelsea having lost to Legia Warzsawa at home in the second leg of their quarter-final.
"It was the perfect night, an important semi-final and it is a good result. We need to be focused on the second leg," Maresca told TNT Sports.
"The first 70 minutes was good but then in the last 20 minutes we dropped a little bit, but we cannot drop, we cannot relax, because otherwise, it is complicated.
"We have done a good job but now we need to finish the job at home."
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Chelsea's other priority is confirming their place in the Champions League next season, with the Blues fifth in the table.
A top-five finish will seal a place in Europe's elite competition next year, but Chelsea face four difficult games to conclude their campaign.
They welcome newly crowned Premier League champions Liverpool to Stamford Bridge next, before taking on Newcastle United, Manchester United and Nottingham Forest.
The Chelsea boss made eight changes from the side that beat Everton 1-0 last week, and said rotation within his squad would be key to finishing the campaign as strongly as possible.
"We try to manage players, we know that we need to protect players. We decided to start one way and to finish in a different way. I think it worked well," Maresca added.
"But now we have a game in two days, three days. We are going to arrive back in London at 5am. We have a game on Sunday, so we need to recover our energy."