Chelsea Star Fires Back: "Absolutely Nothing" Wrong with Enzo Maresca's Leadership

Chelsea defender Tosin Adarabioyo firmly dismissed suggestions that he and his squad fell to Bayern Munich because of insufficient experience—a notion that his coach Enzo Maresca had readily embraced.

The London side suffered a 3–1 defeat against Bayern Munich in Germany on Wednesday night. All three goals conceded by the visitors were preventable, and European inexperience was swiftly cited as a reason for the poor display.

As Chelsea's official website noted before their opening Champions League match of the campaign, the team's roster combined had only 117 appearances in the tournament. Bayern Munich, in contrast, could boast 860 such appearances.

When confronted with these statistics after the match, Maresca concurred: "Regarding experience, there was an enormous gap. Despite that, we performed competitively in the proper manner at this venue against this opponent. I've visited here previously with other clubs, it's incredibly challenging to come here and compete, you cannot arrive here and control proceedings for the full 90 minutes."

Tosin, who was participating in his fourth Champions League match, maintained that experience and maturity were irrelevant factors. "Age has absolutely no bearing on it," he contended. "You witnessed what we accomplished in the Club World Cup to become global champions."

Rather, Tosin highlighted Bayern Munich's caliber. "They've accomplished remarkable feats in their domestic league and across the Champions League," he noted. "In recent seasons they've advanced to quarter-finals, semi-finals consecutively. They're an exceptional team."

"We have complete confidence that we're entirely capable of achieving significant success in this tournament as well," Tosin continued. "Whenever we compete, whenever we battle for any prize, we pursue it completely. We consistently strive for the ultimate goal, which is capturing the Champions League."

The 27-year-old center-back ranks as the second-eldest player in Chelsea's squad. Only Raheem Sterling has more years under his belt, but the 30-year-old is currently excluded from the first-team setup. The matter of Sterling's banishment—along with that of Axel Disasi—recently received little compassion from Maresca, who offered additional remarks that many observers might also challenge.