Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has ruled out both Moises Caicedo and Joao Pedro starting in the FIFA Club World Cup final against Paris Saint-Germain.

    Caicedo picked up the injury during สนใจสมัคร? คลิกที่นี่เพื่อเริ่มต้น the 2-0 semi-final win over Fluminense but has been pictured back in training ahead of Sunday’s game, giving hope he could be available to start.

    The Italian boss said of Caicedo: “Moises is an important player for us. He trained this morning and I hope we will have him in the squad on Sunday.”

    Maresca also spoke about Pedro, who scored twice in the semi-final, saying: “Joao is a very good player. The reason we bought him is because we thought he would help us against teams that play deep and drop deep.”

    “He plays very well in tight spaces, has great quality. Luckily we have a lot of options. We’ll see who we can play.”

With a full season under the Italian tactician in the books, the current crop of players appear to be getting it – something which allows the new tailored additions like Joao Pedro to adjust more seamlessly into the system.

And after lifting the Conference League to relatively little fanfare, becoming the first team to win the revamped Club World Cup might just be an accolade worth shouting about, in spite of the widespread apathy previously expressed for “Copa Infantino” back home. Maybe this Maresca project has serious legs.

However, blocking Chelsea’s path towards “world’s best” status is the best football team in the world.