Share

Maresca shrugs off Neville claim that Palmer was ‘played’ by Guardiola

Enzo Maresca has dismissed Gary Neville’s claim that Pep Guardiola was playing Cole Palmer when he had a long, public conversation with the midfielder after Chelsea’s defeat at Manchester City.

Neville, speaking on his podcast after commentating on the game, suggested that Guardiola had seized an opportunity to distract his former player as part of a power move.

“I want to say something about Cole Palmer,” the former Manchester United right-back said. “He was talking to Pep Guardiola on the pitch right at the end of the game. And he was smiling with him. Pep Guardiola does that. Cole, you’re being played.”

However Maresca saw nothing inappropriate about Palmer’s behaviour. “I don’t think Pep is playing a game, especially after the game is finished,” Chelsea’s head coach said. “I don’t know what kind of game you are playing when the game is finished.

“But you probably have to ask him the reason why he [Neville] 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.”