ENZO MARESCA has left heartbroken Pedro Neto to decide if he can face up to football on Saturday following the tragic death of Diogo Jota.
Chelsea’s Portuguese winger sat out training after hearing of the fatal accident involving his former club and country team-mate yesterday.
The Blues face Palmeiras in the quarter-final of the Club World Cup and Neto has been one of the standout players of the tournament.
But boss Maresca said: “Pedro is very sad. Probably more than sad, but we are close to Pedro, to support him this morning.
“It’s completely Pedro’s decision, I had a chat this morning, We support him. Any decision he takes is the right one, we will support him in any case. If on the pitch tomorrow or not, we will support him.
“It’s a very sad day. I struggle to find words, it’s very difficult, the feeling that you have is helpless in this situation.
“The only thing I can say is all my love for his family, a big tragedy.”
Chelsea defender Marc Cucurella says the entire squad is right behind Neto but that maybe it is ‘destiny’ for him to play – and score on such an emotional occasion.
Cucurella added: “In the morning he was sad and it was not his best moment. But we tried to stay together and in the afternoon he was a bit better and I told him that if he’s going to play then he will score because that is destiny.
“Hopefully we can show his love and all the good friends that we are and dedicate the goal to him.
“The manager and he must decide but it’s important that Pedro feels good, football is secondary but it’s a long day tomorrow and whatever they decide will be good. But right now he’s a player in form and I think Pedro can help us in this game.”
“It’s a bad moment, we send all our love to the family, the wife, the kids, and I do it from me, the whole Chelsea squad and football.
“Football is not important at times like this. The most important thing is that we show respect and all our love.
“ I saw the news as soon as I woke up. It was a difficult moment because these things can happen to all of us at any moment and then you start to think if you don’t feel good, or you don’t give 100 per cent, or feel bad when these things happen, it’s important to be happy and live life every day.
“The morning was a bit difficult, you don’t feel good or have the energy to play but tomorrow is a good moment to show all the love, all the respect because I think he enjoyed playing football and scoring football.
“That’s why this will be a good opportunity to show on the pitch which is where he felt good.”
