Maresca: ‘Chelsea were in control until Atalanta changed dynamics’

Enzo Maresca insists ‘the real Chelsea’ is both the one that beat Barcelona and lost to Atalanta in the Champions League. ‘The dynamics of the game changed after the equaliser.’

Joao Pedro had put the Blues in front at the New Balance Arena in Bergamo when VAR intervened to confirm Reece James was not offside on the assist.

However, Atalanta turned it around after the restart with Gianluca Scamacca’s free header at the back post on a Charles De Ketelaere cross, then the Belgian netting the second himself.

Considering Maresca’s men were fresh from a 3-0 win over Barcelona, which of the two is the real Chelsea?

“Both are the real Chelsea, the team we saw against Barcelona and Atalanta. We were in control until conceding the equaliser, then after that the dynamics of the game changed. We will try to do better in future,” Maresca told Sky Sport Italia.

“We started the second half with a couple of chances to go 2-0 up, but then we conceded and the game changed. After going 2-1 down, we tried again to get back.”

It was put to Maresca that Chelsea weren’t completely in control, as Atalanta had plenty of scoring opportunities in the first half too.

“I didn’t say we didn’t suffer against Atalanta, but we were in the lead and controlling pretty well,” he replied.

“After the equaliser was our worst moment of the match and then they scored the second too.”

Atalanta are now three points clear of Chelsea in the Champions League table.