Willy Caballero has just completed an unexpected post-match press conference following Chelsea's 2-1 victory against Liverpool in the Premier League.
Enzo Maresca was not allowed to conduct his post-match media duties following his sending off, as per the FA's rules.
Estevao Willian scored in the 95th minute to give the Blues all three points at Stamford Bridge and inflict a third successive defeat on the Reds. Moises Caicedo had given the hosts the advantage early on with a superb strike from around 25 yards out.
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Cody Gakpo equalised not too long after the half-time break with both sides pushing for the all important third goal. Maresca will be delighted it was Estevao who scored it. Here is every word the Chelsea's assistant, Caballero, hhad to say in his post-match press conference:
Has Enzo caught his breath after running 50 yards to celebrate?
No, he's OK, he's OK. He was so happy after the game. Unfortunately he cannot be here because of the card, but he was so happy and he wanted me to do the press conference, but also he wanted me to praise the players because of the effort that they've done today. We believe that we deserve the victory after the chances that we created and how we played. Thanks to football and thanks for the effort of the players, we scored in the last second and we got the three points today.
Is the reason for Enzo being that animated due to the significance of the victory?
I believe it's because not just this week, but a few weeks that we've been holding our emotions because the last couple of games we've been playing well, but we finished a few games with 10 players and we couldn't win the game. Today was really important, but at the same time we finished with a back four that is not usual, four full-backs. The players did it really well, the players on the bench were ready to go and ready to play. They did a really good effort, they played in different positions.
They didn't ask for a question, they just went inside the pitch and they did it fantastic. I think also because if we had chances in the 80s or something like that and we would have scored, probably nothing would have happened. But because the goal was in the 90s, something that gave the emotions to Enzo to run. I believe he did it against Benfica in the Club World Cup and we were so happy about those things. Today is a great day for us.
Big moment for Enzo to try and build a connection with the fans?
I believe Enzo has a good connection, a good relationship with the supporters. But any victory in the last second, any victory against Liverpool, Arsenal, big teams, strong teams, can give you a little bit more. And extra things can be scored in the 90 minutes, because in the last 30 minutes, the whole crowd, the whole supporters were pushing, were living the game. And that's what we want to create, that environment that is nasty for the away team and gives you a little bit more legs or wings to run in the last couple of minutes. So hopefully we can create this environment for more games. And we know they are always there.
Will you get Enzo to pay a fine for his red card?
He's always paying many things for us. So in this case, we cannot say nothing for him, but for sure we're going to have a dinner and we're going to talk about it. Because I don't want to do the press conference for many games.
Has there been a case of holding Estevao back at times in the Premier League?
It's not just Estevao. We are doing a great job with many of the players because a lot of them are young. And they have to face the opportunity to play from the start, not playing on the bench, on the stands in time. So it's something that we know that is there. And we are coaches. And so it's the manager that is the first one. But he knows that we need to work on the individualities to help them to improve, not just with the ball, outside as well. So they can have, like today, Estevao, a few minutes, but be ready to arrive there and score.
So it's something that, thanks to him playing football, we know that a young player can suffer when he moves from another country to settle down here and to play for this club. So the players, first of all, are doing a great job to involve all the new players. And when we have the chance, we work. I can speak with him most of the time in Spanish because he understands. And he's a really good kid. And we are so happy for him because he needs it, we need it, and he needs a goal as well.
Have you had to protect Caicedo a bit in recent weeks because of a fitness problem? And also, how are Benoit Badiashile and Josh Acheampong?
The two central defenders, it was just prevention. Because they made a great effort today, but just prevention. We spoke with them already and they said that they are OK, so good for us. About Moi, what can we say? He's been playing a lot of games. Last season, the Club World Cup, the national games with Ecuador. And yeah, we need to manage sometimes because we want him to arrive well to the games.
And today he did, one more time, a great job, a great game. Also, he scored a fantastic goal that gave us the opportunity to manage the game a little bit. And we need to keep an eye on him because all the players that played constantly from last season, they've been dealing with some pain or something like that. And that's why we always think about Moi or Enzo [Fernandez], that they need to sometimes do partial training or something like that to arrive well to the game.
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