Enzo Maresca delivers verdict after watching Celtic dismantle his Chelsea side

Celtic have had the perfect USA tour and return to Scotland full of confidence after thumping Chelsea 4-1 at Notre Dame Stadium.

Alongside wins over DC United and Manchester City, Brendan Rodgers’ side have been in rude attacking form over the three matches, scoring 12 goals in total.

Matt O’Riley and Kyogo Furuhashi were back on the scoresheet against Chelsea on Saturday evening, as were Mikey Johnston and Luis Palma.

Enzo Maresca named plenty of established starters in his Chelsea side so the victory was even more impressive for the Bhoys, albeit the team is ahead of the Premier League outfit in their fitness preparations.

After the match, the Italian was obviously disappointed with the result and conceded that the English side couldn’t match Celtic physically.

Enzo Maresca on Chelsea defeat to Celtic

He said [Chelsea FC]: “We don’t like the result as you said. Conceding four is too many. Also the amount of chances we created – first half, even when the game started we had two clear chances. Second half we started the same way.

“After the third goal, the game was finished. I think it was quite clear the difference between us and them in terms of physical condition. You can see that they are a team that in one week they are going to start their official season while for us it was just our second game the break. For me, it was quite clear the difference in physical condition.”

Later in a press conference, he added [Metro]: “I think on the ball, the team were 10 times better than in the game against Wrexham and that is important because we can see the amount of chances we created first-half and second-half.

“And off the ball, for sure, we can improve things and you can see sometimes we confuse when we need to play short, a little bit longer. It’s part of the process.