rewrite this title Chelsea’s Maresca slams Delap for ‘stupid’ red card

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca accused Liam Delap of being selfish after receiving a “stupid” and “embarrassing” red card in the Carabao Cup victory over Wolves.

Delap was dismissed in the 4-3 success at Molineux after picking up two yellow cards in seven minutes after coming on as a substitute for his first appearance since August.

The first booking was for wrestling Yerson Mosquera to the ground, and his second came after a reckless aerial challenge with Emmanuel Agbadou.

– Carabao Cup quarterfinal draw

It was Chelsea’s sixth red card in nine games this season, and Maresca was unhappy with his striker, who will now miss the weekend clash with Tottenham.

“For today we have a very a stupid red card, that was completely unnecessary, absolute it was a stupid foul, we can avoid that,” Maresca said.

“I completely support and understand the red card like against Brighton and Manchester United that is difficult, but the red card against Nottingham and a red card today, we can avoid that and we have to avoid that.

“It’s embarrassing when it is a red card like today. It’s embarrassing. Two yellow cards in seven minutes. Both I think we can avoid.

“After the first yellow card I told him to four or five times ‘keep calm,’ but he’s a player when he is inside the pitch, probably he is playing the game for himself and he struggled to realize and to listen around him.”

The red card took the shine off an entertaining game in which Chelsea held off a spirited second-half fightback from Wolves.

Goals from Andrey Santos, Tyrique George and Estêvão gave the London club a 3-0 half-time lead, and a miserable season for Wolves looked like it was hitting new depths.

But the second half was a different affair, and Tolu Arokodare and David Moller Wolfe had Chelsea on the rack, but Jamie Gittens’ 90th minute strike seemed to ensure Chelsea’s victory.

However, Wolfe scored his second moments later as Wolves kept pushing — but they could not find the tying goal as Chelsea made it through to the quarterfinals.

Wolves boss Vitor Pereira was arguing with fans after Saturday’s Premier League defeat to Burnley, but his side was cheered off.

Pereira, who remains under pressure as fans chanted for him to be sacked at 3-0, said he believes the second-half performance can be the blueprint for Wolves to flourish.

“We showed to ourselves and to the supporters that together we can do it again,” Pereira said. “We just need a win to believe and to move on. That definitely was seen in the second half.

“This season, we are fighting and fighting and fighting. Of course, we need to look for the second half and to understand what we can do.

“This is what we can do in this league. We can compete with Chelsea. We can compete with every team. If we play like this, we can compete with them, with confidence, with energy, with [the] energy of our supporters.

“We can do it. We are a small club, but we can do it together.”