Enzo Maresca hails Christopher Nkunku after 'special day' capped with Chelsea goal

Enzo Maresca hailed a “big day” for Christopher Nkunku, after the Frenchman earned a recall to the France squad just hours before scoring in Chelsea’s 4-2 win over Gent.

Nkunku scored the Blues’ third goal as they began their Conference League group-stage campaign with victory at Stamford Bridge.

Earlier on Thursday, the 26-year-old forward had been selected by Didier Deschamps for the France squad, marking his first call-up since joining Chelsea. Nkunku has already won 10 France caps but has endured an injury-impacted start to life with the Blues.

“It’s a big day”, said Mareca. “We are all happy. I knew the information this afternoon, and I was really happy.

“I think he deserves it — he is doing well with us. But last month we also had Noni Madueke and Renato Veiga with their national team [for the first time]. It’s good for the squad to have more players there.

“The same for Wesley Fofana. Last year, lost all season. This year going to the national team. We are happy for both of them. We don’t have doubts about them as players in terms of how they are playing.”

There were also goals for summer signings Pedro Neto, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Renato Veiga as Chelsea made their way past Belgian side Gent.

Chelsea are the top scorers in the Premier League this season and have won their last five games in all competitions, scoring 17 goals in the process.

“We are performing really well, not only in attack but defensively”, head coach Maresca said. “But for sure we can do many, many things better. We can attack better, we can defend better.”

Referring to Omri Gandelman’s 90th-minute strike for Gent to make it 4-2, Maresca said: “The most important thing to learn tonight is that even if we are 4-1 up, we cannot switch off until the final whistle. Don’t concede another goal. We conceded the second goal because we thought that the game was finished.

“But overall we are very happy with the performance. These kinds of games are always tough, never easy.”