Chelsea winger Noni Madueke says he doesn’t understand criticism of manager Enzo Maresca as the team have “come of age” this season.
The 23-year-old winger started in Chelsea’s 4-1 Conference League final win over Real Betis in Wroclaw.
It has been a glorious few days for the club after they also qualified for the Champions League through a win at Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
With Maresca having aimed a well-placed swear word at the club’s critics on Sunday, Madueke said: “I’m not too worried about them [the critics]. They spur you on. So, thank you to them.”
He was then asked about criticism of Maresca and added: “The gaffer is top. He won last year at Leicester and he won this year in his first year at Chelsea – and qualified for the Champions League.
“I don’t understand why there would be criticism of him.”
Maresca said he hopes success in Europe’s third tier competition can be the “start of something important”, words echoed by Madueke on Wednesday night.
“It’s fantastic. It’s the culmination of a lot of hard work, a lot of dedication and we are super happy that we got the job done,” he concluded.
“I feel like we’ve come of age, don’t you? I feel like we have, you know. I think the last few weeks, we’ve taken a leap in that sense.
“Of course, that’s a success. Especially from where we’ve come from in the last few years. We know that Chelsea is a winning club. But there has been nothing in our minds apart from winning and we did that.
“Of course winning becomes infectious. Of course it does. It’s a lot of the boys’ first major trophy and we are super happy that we’ve done it.”