Enzo Maresca shares 'serious' six-word request he made to Chelsea stars before Barrow win

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has revealed that he sent a message to his players before putting five past Barrow in the Carabao Cup, telling them: “We are young, we are serious.” The Blues made light work of their fourth-tier opponents without really getting out of second gear to reach the next round in style.

Christopher Nkunku opened the scoring from close range early on before doubling his tally inside 15 minutes to put Chelsea in full control. They made it three when Joao Felix’s free kick bounced off Barrow goalkeeper Paul Farman and rolled over the line.

A fourth goal arrived just after the break with Pedro Neto slotting into an empty net after being played through by Mykhaylo Mudryk. Nkunku completed his hat-trick in the closing stages of the match to wrap up a one-sided victory on a comfortable night for the hosts.

Speaking in his post-match press conference, Maresca revealed that he challenged his players to show what they were made of before taking to the Stamford Bridge pitch.

He said: “Before the game, I asked the players, even because we are the youngest squad in the league, I asked them to show how serious we are. Send a message. We are young, we are serious.”

Maresca also reserved special praise for Chelsea’s free-scoring forwards, with Nkunku’s three-goal haul coming just days after Nicolas Jackson bagged a brace against West Ham in the Premier League.

“It’s difficult to judge last year because I was not here,” said the Blues manager. “They are both [Nkunku and Jackson] doing fantastic, not just because they score but the work on and off the ball.

“Unfortunately Marc Guiu is not scoring at the moment but hopefully soon he can score a goal. It’s nice they are both scoring.”

Reflecting on the game as a whole, Maresca added: “Very happy with the performance, with the result. We made many changes but the idea was the same. This has to be one of our targets, no matter who we play, for the identity of the team to always be there.

“It depends also on the moment of the season. Sometimes you can have injuries, different problems. In this moment we are all available [apart from] Romeo [Lavia] and Reece [James].”