Chelsea face Real Betis in the UEFA Conference League final on Wednesday night and the Blues' boss Enzo Maresca might never have become a coach were it not for his rival
When Enzo Maresca was offered the Chelsea job last summer, he immediately phoned up his "professional dad" for advice. Maresca knew he would be joining a volatile club with a growing reputation for chewing up and spitting out coaches at a greater frequency than even the Abramovich era.
But old sage Manuel Pellegrini was certain that it was the right move at the right time for Maresca, telling his protégé: “This is perfect.”
So he made the leap from Leicester City and has already lasted longer than the five other men, including caretakers, to have led Chelsea in the rollercoaster three years under the Todd Boehly-Clearlake Capital consortium.
And while the top priority was returning to the Champions League, Maresca's debut season on the Chelsea hot seat ends with the chance of a trophy that doubles up as a duel against the man who convinced him to become a coach in the first place.
“For sure, I am where I am because of Manuel,” Maresca says. Pellegrini brought Maresca to Malaga in January 2011 with the Andalusian club bottom of La Liga. By the end of the next campaign they had sealed a Champions League place for the first time.
Along the way Pellegrini had been struck by how the midfielder was effectively coaching his younger team-mates on the field. So one day after training the Chilean took the Italian aside to suggest that getting his qualifications might be a good idea.
“It was just a chat but from that day onwards I started to think that maybe I did have a future as a coach and that’s how it started,” Maresca recalls.
In 2012 he returned to Italy, for spells with Sampdoria, Palermo and Hellas Verona. But the seed had been planted and when he retired in the summer of 2017 Ascoli, then in Serie B, hired him as an assistant coach while he completed his badges.
Twelve months later Pellegrini brought him in as a deputy at West Ham and he was soon impressing to such an extent that after a 1-0 win at Chelsea, when Pellegrini was at risk of the sack, Maresca was credited as masterminding their tactical plan.
Whatever the truth behind that tale, Pellegrini’s eventual departure was followed by Maresca heading to Manchester City – first with the development squad before joining Pep Guardiola ’s support staff.
But he and Pellegrini remained close, with the softly-spoken former Man City boss imparting words of wisdom whenever needed.
“The things that I learned from him are how to manage players, how to manage changing rooms, how to manage difficult situations, noise around the club.”
Even now they speak weekly and after Maresca flew to Betis’ penultimate La Liga game tendays ago he went for dinner with his mentor in Madrid.
They have homes nearby in Spain with both spending much of the summer together. “We are so close,” Maresca adds. “He comes round the pool, bars, all that sort of stuff.”
And when the full-time whistle blows, they will embrace no matter the result. ”Both, we want to win and the good thing is that nothing will have changed after the game in terms of relation. Manuel is not just a colleague. He's a reference and he's a top person.”