Maresca: Grieving Neto to decide CWC availability

PHILADELPHIA -- Enzo Maresca has told Chelsea guardant Pedro Neto that it volition beryllium "completely his decision" if helium plays successful Friday's Club World Cup quarterfinal against Palmeiras pursuing the decease of adjacent person and Portugal team-mate Diogo Jota.

Liverpool guardant Jota, 28, was killed alongside his member André Silva connected Wednesday evening successful bluish Spain pursuing a car crash. Jota played alongside Neto astatine Wolves earlier moving to Liverpool successful 2020 and the brace won the UEFA Nations League unneurotic with Portugal past month.

Neto did not instrumentality portion successful Chelsea's grooming league successful Miami connected Thursday greeting aft being told of Jota's passing. Coach Maresca said that the subordinate is nether nary unit to play against Palmeiras successful Philadelphia if helium feels incapable to bash so.

"Pedro is precise sad, astir apt much than sad," Maresca told reporters. "But we are adjacent to Pedro to enactment him successful this moment. "It's wholly Pedro determination [if helium wants to play]. I had a chat with him this greeting and we enactment him. Any determination helium takes is the close one.

"We volition enactment him successful immoderate case. If helium is connected the transportation time oregon not, we volition enactment him.

"It's precise bittersweet time and I conflict find words. It's precise difficult, the feeling that you person is helplessness successful this situation. The lone happening I tin accidental is each my emotion for his (Jota's) household successful this large tragedy."

Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella echoed Maresca's comments and said that the squad person travel unneurotic to enactment Neto.

"In the morning, helium was bittersweet and it was not his champion moment," Cucurella said. "But we tried to enactment unneurotic and successful the day helium was a spot better.

"I told him that if he's going to play, past helium volition people due to the fact that that is destiny. "Hopefully, we tin amusement his emotion and each the bully friends that we are and dedicate the extremity to him. "It's important that Pedro feels bully [to play]. Football is secondary, but it's a agelong time day and immoderate they determine volition beryllium good.

"Football is not important astatine times similar this. The astir important happening is that we amusement respect and each our love."