Enzo Maresca was delighted with Tyrique George’s first senior goal, but insisted fellow Chelsea teenager Josh Acheampong was “the one I fell in love with” against Legia Warsaw.
Chelsea made a decisive step towards the Conference League semi-finals with a 3-0 first-leg win on Thursday evening after Maresca went bold with his team selection in Poland.
The Italian started 19-year-old George on the left wing and 18-year-old Acheampong at right-back.
Both played excellently on the night, with George capping the evening off with his first goal as a senior player.
“I am happy, first of all, for the Chelsea academy because he [George] is one of our boys,” Maresca said. “He was quite good in the first half, taking responsibility. He was probably better in the middle.”
Maresca moved George from the left of a 4-1-4-1 system into the middle as one of two No8s at half-time, once he made the premeditated substitution of Cole Palmer in favour of Noni Madueke, who went on to score twice.
“The one I fall in love with tonight is Josh Acheampong,” Maresca said. “He can be a fantastic player for this club.
“He is a good player, can play in different positions, and he showed that. Since we started, I'm in love with him but tonight he showed he can be a very good player for this club.
“He can be good in different positions. The best thing for Josh is that he's open — he wants to learn. ‘Full-back? No problem, what do I have to do’?”
Christopher Nkunku started up front for Chelsea in Warsaw, just as he did against Brentford in Sunday’s 0-0 draw in the Premier League, but it was another frustrating outing for the Frenchman. He had a penalty saved in the second half, in what was his only real contribution of note during the match.
“In this moment, it’s a lack of confidence and the reason why is probably because he's missing goals,” Maresca said.
“But the only way to deal with that is to work hard every day, because when you work hard for sure the reward is important.
“The problem is when you stop to work and the good thing about Christopher is that he's working well every day.”
