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Chelsea touched down in Jakarta on Friday afternoon, the third stop on their summer pre-season tour, and headed straight to the GBK Stadium for an open training session.
The club spent six days in Hong Kong, where they faced Juventus in front of more than 43,000 supporters, before flying on to the Indonesian capital.
Ahead of Saturday’s pre-season fixture against AC Milan manager Xabi Alonso spoke to the media about the club’s global reach. “This is the perfect time to get close to our supporters from Indonesia – or those who can come to Jakarta,” he said. “We know football is global, so while we’re based in London, we have great support everywhere and we see blue shirts wherever we have been.”
Alonso added that he was satisfied with the squad’s preparation. “We have been able to train and prepare, and I am very happy with the attitude and personality; we know that it’s a very important part of this tour.”
Summer signing Marco Palestra, who joined from Cagliari, also addressed reporters and expressed confidence in his adaptation to the group. “Last season I played for Cagliari and for sure it’s a big move. But I am really confident because last season I played every game in Serie A, which is a tough league to play in,” he said. “I need to say thank you to the staff and Xabi and my teammates because since the first day they have helped me with everything inside and outside of football.”
After the press conferences, the squad trained in front of invited supporters before signing shirts and posing for photographs. Chelsea’s tour continues on Sunday with a fixture against Johor Darul Ta’zim in Malaysia.