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Chelsea fans on social media are unimpressed with manager Enzo Maresca's decision to start Trevoh Chalobah and Malo Gusto against Benfica in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday, September 30. They believe that the duo is not in good form and should have been benched.
Maresca has kept Robert Sanchez in goal and Marc Cucurella as the left-back, as expected. Gusto has got the nod over Reece James at right-back, while Chalobah, who got sent off against Brighton & Hove Albion, starts alongside Benoit Badiashile.
Moises Caicedo has recovered from his small issue and starts in the midfield alongside Enzo Fernandez. Facundo Buonanotte comes into the starting XI for Cole Palmer, who has been rested because of a groin issue.
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Estevao Willian has been benched, which sees Pedro Neto move to the right flank and Alejandro Garnacho starting on the left. Joao Pedro has also been benched today, with Tyrique George getting the start ahead of Marc Guiu.
Many fans are not happy with the lineup and posted:
Maresca spoke about facing Jose Mourinho's Benfica and said in his pre-match press conference:
"It's probably a little bit more difficult [to prepare] and the reason why is because they just played I think three or four games with Jose. All the teams that I started to watch unfortunately were with the former manager. I watched three or four games with Jose. I watched also some games where Jose was Man Utd or Spurs or Roma in Italy. But for sure it will be a completely different game compared to the Club World Cup game."
Chelsea lost their UEFA Champions League opener 3-1 against Bayern Munich earlier this month.
Enzo Maresca reported injury issues ahead of Chelsea vs Benfica
Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca reported that he was dealing with more injury issues at Chelsea, with Moises Caicedo, Joao Pedro, and Andrey Santos doubtful for the game. The Ecuadorian has made the starting XI, while the Brazilian midfielder has not made the team. He said:
"We need to maintain levels for sure because the Champions League requires high levels. As you said in this moment we have unfortunately many players out for injury. This afternoon we're going to assess Moises Caicedo, Joao Pedro and Andrey Santos. They are all players unfortunately for us with some small problems. So we'll see if tomorrow they're going to be available. But we are for sure in this moment we have injuries but we have a squad enough in this moment to try to replace the injuries we have."
Chelsea are without Cole Palmer, Levi Colwill, Dario Essugo, Wesley Fofana, Tosin Adarabioyo and Liam Delap.
