Enzo Maresca has shown his Chelsea players video clips of Legia Warsaw’s hostile home support to prepare them for a potential cauldron-like atmosphere on Thursday night.
The Blues arrived in the Polish capital on Wednesday evening ahead of their Conference League quarter-final first-leg tie.
Legia have faced UEFA bans in recent years relating to supporter behaviour. In December 2023, the European governing body fined Legia €100,000 and banned them from selling tickets for five away games because of disorder outside Villa Park during a Conference League match against Aston Villa.
Chelsea are expecting a hostile atmosphere on Thursday night. Legia restricted the two-time Champions League winners to just 742 tickets.
Asked how he has prepared his Chelsea players, Maresca said: “We tried to show them also some of the environment in this stadium so they can adapt, they can be ready tomorrow. But fortunately, in England almost everywhere the environment is good, it's nice.”
Questioned whether this meant showing his players clips of Legia’s home atmosphere at the Marshall Józef Piłsudski Legia Warsaw Stadium, he replied: “Yes, yes.
“For sure tomorrow will be even more, but I always said the same that the players, they are lucky, they have to think that they are lucky to experience that kind of game and that kind of moment.
“We try always to give them the big picture. Sometimes you also need to show them where you go because we have players from different parts of the world, so probably some of them don't know exactly [what to expect]. So we show them also some of the environment in this stadium.”
The Italian added: “We need to experience this kind of game, this kind of moment.
“We are very young but in the same moment we need this kind of game to improve. [The young players], they are ready.”
