We were made to work hard by the MLS side in our Group D opener – played inside the huge Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta – but a first-half strike from Pedro Neto and a close-range finish from Enzo Fernandez with ten minutes to play guaranteed a winning start for the Blues.

And Maresca highlighted the mental qualities displayed by his squad after our victory. He said: ‘We are professional and have to adapt to any situation or environment.

'What’s important is the behaviour of the players, the attitude, and once again today, they showed how professional they are and the desire they have, because it was important to win today and also not to concede a goal.

'We finished the Premier League season and Conference League very strong defensively, without conceding many goals. Today we continued that and we want to stay with this attitude.’

There was a familiar look to the Chelsea side, with none of our new arrivals included in the starting XI. That meant Liam Delap began on the bench and Nicolas Jackson led the Blues attack. And the Senegal international played a key role in our opener, as it was his through ball that enabled Pedro Neto to break through and score.

Delap’s introduction occurred in the 64th minute of the contest and the 22-year-old made an impact on his debut, producing an excellent cross which enabled Fernandez to finish and seal our victory.

Maresca was understandably pleased with the impact of both his strikers and emphasised he has two quality options to spearhead the frontline.

He explained: ‘Both are very good No.9s and hopefully both can score goals and get assists like today, because I prefer to have four or five players who score ten or twelve goals each rather one striker who scores 40 goals. Enzo scored again today too, which is good.

‘Last year we tried to use different threats, different weapons; we also we had two or three months where we were without Nico and Marc. We tried to find different solutions but for sure, when you have two strikers like Nico and Liam, it’s a nice feeling as a head coach.

'You know you can choose one of them and it's going to be a good choice.’

Maresca also praised our opening goalscorer, Pedro Neto, who he believes will increase his output in the final third next season.

He added: ‘Pedro is a very good person, very professional, and works hard every day. Today he played a very good game and since he arrived with us, he has been very good.

'Next season, he is probably going to be even better in terms of goals and assists, but overall, we are very happy with Pedro.’