Chelsea fans like their bad boys and Maresca’s antics will win them over

 This might just have been the moment Enzo Maresca won over a few of his Chelsea doubters. If the last-gasp Estêvão Willian winner was not enough, then the way the manager celebrated to earn a sending-off will have delighted the Stamford Bridge regulars.

Chelsea supporters like their bad boys and they love head coaches who share their passion. Stamford Bridge erupted when Estêvão slid in the home side’s winner against Liverpool and so did Maresca.

The Italian retained the faith of the Chelsea board following back-to-back defeats by Manchester United and Brighton. But this win will also have gone down well upstairs, given it was the first time the club had beaten a reigning Premier League champion under their current owners.

Despite winning the Europa Conference League and the Club World Cup, the feeling towards Maresca from the Chelsea fans has often felt lukewarm. But the nature of this result and the way he lived every moment will surely have endeared him to them.

The Italian had been warned all game by fourth official Farai Hallam for jumping around outside his technical area, but despite already being on a yellow card for screaming “f--- off”, Maresca did not think twice about racing down the touchline when Chelsea’s winning goal hit the back of the net.

It was reminiscent of a certain José Mourinho, who had been back at his old home a few days earlier and Maresca channelled his inner “special one” on Saturday evening.

He dived over the backs of his celebrating players and punched the air in delight at the supporters. When he got back to his technical area, Maresca was promptly shown a second yellow card and ordered down the tunnel.

It did not stop him screaming instructions to his backroom staff as he made his way down towards the dressing-room area while Chelsea celebrated the victory as though they had won the Club World Cup all over again.

Maresca’s red card was Chelsea’s fourth in five games and maintains the club’s poor disciplinary record, but none of the club’s fans will be worrying about that on Sunday morning. The head coach will be suspended from the touchline for the trip to Nottingham Forest after the international break, but that is an issue for another day.

Perhaps the biggest shame was that Maresca’s sending-off meant that he did not carry out the post-match media duties that instead went to his assistant Willy Caballero, who acknowledged that the victory and the emotion that went with it could have been a powerful moment.

“Enzo has a good relationship with the supporters, but any victory in the last seconds against Liverpool, Arsenal, big teams, strong teams, can give you a little bit more,” said Caballero. “In the last 30 minutes, all the supporters were pushing, were living the game and that’s what we want to create. That environment, that’s nasty for the away team and gives us a little bit more legs, or wings, to run in the last couple of minutes. Hopefully, we can create this environment for more and more games.”

The Chelsea fans will have loved the way Maresca earned his first yellow card in the first half, almost as much as the second. He was convinced Alejandro Garnacho should have been awarded a penalty and loudly shouted “f--- off” when referee Anthony Taylor waved away the appeals.

He also gave Xavi Valero a piece of his mind, when the Liverpool goalkeeping coach tried to argue that Maresca’s protests had been over the top. It helped to whip up what was one of the best atmospheres inside Stamford Bridge for some time.

This was overwhelmingly a win for Maresca. Without eight players before the game, he saw both of his starting central defenders forced off with fitness issues. Chelsea finished with Jorrel Hato, signed predominantly as a left-back, and right-back Reece James in the middle of their defence.

Cole Palmer was watching from the stands and Maresca was so short of options that he had named 17-year-old Landon Emenalo, son of former Chelsea technical director Michael, among his substitutes. But still the hosts pushed for a winner after Liverpool had drawn level.

That was thanks, in no small part, to Maresca’s changes. He had admitted after last week’s defeat by Brighton that he had got things wrong and had been accused of making negative substitutions in that match and during the loss at Manchester United.

But there was no negativity about his decision to swap his entire front three for a new front three with the game on a knife-edge and 15 minutes remaining. Garnacho and Pedro Neto had been two of Chelsea’s better players and yet Maresca recognised Liverpool were there for the taking.

Throwing on an 18-year-old in Estêvão carried a risk as the teenager could have been caught out defensively. Similarly, Jamie Gittens had been struggling for form in a Chelsea shirt before Saturday.

But both players made a big impact as they went close to scoring before Estêvão spectacularly won it at the death and Maresca acted like all the best Chelsea managers generally have – by going absolutely mad.