Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca admits he is “worried” about playing on a much-criticised artificial surface in the semi-final of the Conference League.
The Blues face Djurgarden on Thursday evening on a pitch even the Swedish club’s manager Jani Honkavaara described as “horrible” after a match against GAIS last week.
His criticism of the the 3Arena pitch has been echoed by Djurgarden’s players and rival managers.
Work has been done to improve the quality of the surface by adding extra sand ahead of the upcoming match against Chelsea.
But Maresca, who has spent the last few days analysing Djurgarden by watching their last six matches, is aware the pitch could cause issues.
“For sure, for sure. It can be a concern. I’m a little bit worried about that. It’s completely different [to grass],” he said.
“I know that in the last weeks even some of their players were complaining about the pitch. They play every week, so for us it’s a different one.
“But there are no excuses, no reasons why we are not going to compete tomorrow and the second game at all.”
Despite the pitch, Chelsea remain huge favourites to advance. In Uefa’s league rankings, the Premier League is first and Swedish Allsvenskan is 20th, with Chelsea’s squad worth 44 times more, according to Transfermarkt.
But Maresca said he would not rest players despite Chelsea hosting Liverpool on Sunday with Champions League qualification still in the balance, adding: “We are not in a moment where we can say we decide to save players.
“This is a semi-final, it’s a European competition and we want to be in the final.”
Christopher Nkunku and Robert Sanchez have not travelled for the match after picking up minor injuries and are being assessed but Chelsea have their strongest available squad in Sweden.
Maresca added: “Now that we are in the semi-final, the next target is the final, and then once, if we are able to reach the final, we go for the title.
“It’s a huge title, because it’s a European competition, and we can give this club the opportunity to be the only club in the world to win all the European competitions. It’s also a responsibility for me, a responsibility for the players to get that.”
Captain Reece James previously said Chelsea “disrespected the competition” after a shock 2-1 defeat by Legia Warsaw in the last round, although the Blues still progressed 4-2 on aggregate.
