Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has revealed that he once watched 38 Liverpool matches inside a single week in order to gain some early coaching inspiration.
The former Leicester head coach takes his Blues side to Anfield on Sunday for a high-profile Premier League showdown that should act as a key early acid test for both sides following their respective impressive starts to new eras under Arne Slot and Maresca.
Maresca insists that Chelsea are not competing with Liverpool for the title despite an impressive start to the campaign that has seen them go undefeated in the top-flight since an opening weekend loss to champions Manchester City, but hopes they can one day reignite a rivalry that reached its peak in the noughties with the likes of Jose Mourinho and Rafael Benitez.
The Italian evidently has plenty of admiration for the classic, relentless Reds sides under Slot’s predecessor Jurgen Klopp, holding them up as an important source of inspiration when he first made the transition from playing into coaching.
"When I finished playing and started as a manager, I watched 38 games of Liverpool in one week, to study and to analyse how good they were with the previous manger in terms of pressing and this kind of thing," Maresca said before Sunday’s trip to Merseyside.
"I really know Liverpool players because I watched them many times. That team, the first one, two, three years with Klopp, the way they were pressing was especially because (Mohamed) Salah, (Roberto) Firmino and (Sadio) Mane.
"It's not only on the ball it's also off the ball. The way they are aggressive was something unbelievable. I really like Salah not only because he is good on the ball but because he is a fantastic player off the ball.
"It was Christmas time, I still remember. I was starting to watch different kinds of football to understand and see how the best teams were doing things."
