Enzo Maresca reveals Chelsea fitness concern ahead of huge Bayern Munich clash

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has revealed that Joao Pedro is 'not 100 per cent fit', casting doubt over his involvement against Bayern Munich. The Blues begin their Champions League campaign in Germany on Wednesday, returning to the competition after a two-year absence.

Sixty-million-pound signing Pedro started and played 79 minutes of Saturday's 2-2 away to Brentford, as Chelsea conceded in stoppage time. But the Brazilian forward had told Maresca ahead of the match that he wasn't fully fit.

Pedro, 23, played twice for Brazil during the international break but didn't start their second match. Although he provided an assist for Cole Palmer's equaliser against Brentford, the former Brighton star wasn't his usual self and failed to register a single shot.

Maresca made changes to his starting line-up with Wednesday's fixture in mind, but Chelsea's lack of firepower in attack saw him stick with Pedro, despite his fitness concerns. "Joao Pedro, before the game, told me that he was not fit 100 per cent, better [that he] doesn't play," the Blues boss revealed.

"So if I was thinking about Bayern Munich, Joao would be on the bench. But Joao played because the focus was about tonight. But for sure, when you have so many games, you have to plan a different option.

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"For instance, Reece James played two games with the international team. So play tonight and thinking on Wednesday. So it's not, our focus was about tonight.

"And the reason why is because if this season we play Champions League, it's because we did well in the Premier League. And if we want to play again Champions League next season, we need to do well in the Premier League."

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Chelsea recalled young striker Marc Guiu just weeks into his season-long loan at Sunderland after £30m signing Liam Delap suffered a hamstring injury that'll keep him out until December. Fellow striker Nicolas Jackson has been loaned out to Bayern and he's eligible to face his parent club at the Allianz Arena.

Maresca will be hoping for a different outcome to Saturday's game, although he felt that his side did enough to win the contest. "I think so, yeah," the Italian affirmed.

"In the second half, we scored twice. We could have scored two or three more goals. So I think we did enough. Unfortunately, we lost two points just in the last two or three minutes."

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