Mykhailo Mudryk explains celebration with Enzo Maresca after Chelsea training message

Mykhailo Mudryk has explained why he ran to Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca when celebrating his goal against Panathinaikos.

The Ukrainian winger put in arguably his best performance for the club since his big-money move from Shakhtar Donetsk in January 2023, scoring once and providing two assists to Joao Felix in a 4-1 win to help the Blues go top of the Conference League table.

After the game, Mudryk said he embraced his boss for a very specific reason.

“The coach always says to me to go to the second post and I did that and that’s where I scored so we shook hands after.”

Maresca had admitted after the game the winger’s progress had been “slow” but backed his player to shine going forward.

Mudryk also expressed his delighted with both his goal and the win.

‘I’m so happy to score. Every player when they score is really happy. It wasn’t an easy ball with the ball falling behind me, but I scored it and we managed to win as well.

‘I think the game wasn’t that easy. It was good for us to score first. We fought well, we stuck to the plan and we got the result.’

The 23-year-old will hope to have worked his way into Maresca’s starting lineup for Sunday’s Premier League clash away to Newcastle United.