Since arriving at Chelsea last summer, Maresca has worked to mould a squad he believed would take the Blues to the top.

That hasn’t taken much time to bear fruit, as we followed up our top-four Premier League finish and May’s Conference League victory by claiming more silverware Stateside, defeating Paris Saint-Germain 3-0 in Sunday’s Club World Cup final.

However, when asked to reflect on his first campaign at the helm and the success the Blues have enjoyed, Maresca acknowledged none of it would have been possible without the squad at his disposal.

‘I work every day just to improve myself,’ began our head coach. 'I look every day in every session at what we can do better, what we can learn.

‘It’s been a fantastic season, but I’m especially happy for the players. One year ago, when I joined the clu,b I said that I was in love with this squad and it was true.

‘But talent is not enough – you need sacrifice, you need togetherness, you need a game plan where all the players think in the same way. So, it's just because of them.’

One player who drew praise from Maresca in particular was Marc Cucurella. The Spaniard was excellent once again in the Club World Cup final, doing as much as anyone to shut out a much-lauded PSG attack that had put four goals past Real Madrid in the semis.

‘I don’t want to talk about specific players too much, but with Cucurella I will, because it’s been such a great performance during this season and he’s scored a few goals as well.

‘That shows what a smart player he is. He’s one of the main characters in the dressing room and the soul of the party, of course.’

Maresca also discussed the importance of our goal scorers against Paris Saint-Germain. Cole Palmer set us on our way with two pinpoint finishes into the bottom corner, before showcasing his finesse again with a threaded pass to set up new signing Joao Pedro for an audacious dinked finish over Gianluigi Donnarumma.

For the Brazilian, that made it three goals in his first two starts for the Blues; he netted twice on his full debut in the 2-0 semi-final win over Fluminense.

‘These are the games when we expect Cole to appear because they are big games and big moments, and once again I think he showed how good he is,’ continued Enzo.

‘I can say Joao is an amazing player. We can really use him against teams that defend in a very low block with no spaces, because he’s really good in tight spaces.’

Next on Maresca’s list was Enzo Fernandez, who featured in a more advanced midfield role against PSG, in front of Moises Caicedo and Reece James. It was one of the decisions that proved pivotal to the positive approach to the game, which allowed us to shock our opponents by taking a three-goal lead before half-time.

‘We are extremely happy with Enzo, not just in the final, but throughout the whole season,’ added the Chelsea head coach.

‘He played in a different position on Sunday. We tried to prepare for the match thinking that the result was going to be good and things were going to go well, and that’s what I felt on the day.’