Amorim having extra time to work on his system with the Man United squad has widely been seen as a silver-lining to missing out on European football this season.
Despite that, United have only managed to pick up four points from their opening four Premier League games and were knocked out of the Carabao Cup by Grimsby.
Speaking ahead of their meeting at Old Trafford on Saturday, Maresca, 45, admitted he would prefer to be playing in the Champions League rather than have the time with his players.
“If you ask me, I prefer to play the Champions League game, no doubt," he said.
"But at the same time, the reality is that they have one entire week to prepare the game. And we played a game two days ago, 48 hours ago. But again, I prefer to play the Champions League games."
Chelsea haven’t won a Premier League game at Old Trafford since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013.