Chelsea: Enzo Maresca denies Gary Neville claim Cole Palmer was 'played' by Pep Guardiola

Evening Standard

·2 de febrero de 2025

Chelsea: Enzo Maresca denies Gary Neville claim Cole Palmer was 'played' by Pep Guardiola

Sky Sports pundit said post-match interaction didn’t “feel right”

Enzo Maresca has rubbished Gary Neville’s suggestion that Cole Palmer was ‘played’ by Pep Guardiola following Chelsea’s defeat at Manchester City last weekend.

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Palmer endured a difficult night on his latest return to his former club, as City came from a goal down to win 3-1 and climb above Chelsea in the race for the Champions League.

The England international squandered a glaring chance to put Chelsea 2-0 ahead when overhitting a simple square pass for Nicolas Jackson early on and then watched Erling Haaland inspire the champions’s fightback.

At full-time, Palmer was seen engaging in a lengthy on-field conversation with former manager Guardiola and the pair appeared to share a joke as they headed towards the tunnel.

Speaking on his Sky Sports podcast, former Man United defender Neville suggested the interaction did not “feel right”.

“Cole, you're being played, you're being played here,” Neville said. “You didn't do enough out on that pitch in the second half.

“He's an amazing player, absolutely brilliant. but you know something? Those Chelsea fans that have travelled today, 3,000 to 4,000 [of them] over in that far corner. They wanted better than that. They don't really want to see you conversing with the opposition manager and smiling at the end of the game.”

Maresca is himself a former City employee, having worked both within the club’s youth setup and then on Guardiola’s staff during their 2022/23 Premier League title success.

The Italian remains good friends with Guardiola and insisted he had no problem with his mentor’s actions following last week’s clash.

“I don’t think Pep is playing a game, especially after the game is finished,” he said. “I don’t know what kind of game you are playing when the game is finished. But you probably have to ask [Neville] the reason why he said that.

“Sometimes we finish the game and I go on the pitch and find an opposition player I know. I have a chat with him. If we say something we laugh. Even the Fulham game we lost, I had [Timothy] Castagne at Leicester, I had a chat with him on the pitch, we were saying something and I was laughing.

“But it was not because I was happy to lose the game. It was just a moment. It is more a question for him [Neville].”