Chelsea secured their place in the Europa Conference League semi-finals with a 4-2 aggregate victory over Legia Warsaw, despite suffering a disappointing 2-1 defeat in the second leg at Stamford Bridge on Thursday night, April 17th.
Holding a comfortable 3-0 lead from the first leg in Poland, Chelsea were stunned when Legia took the lead after just 10 minutes. Goalkeeper Filip Jørgensen, making his debut, brought down Tomáš Pekhart in the box, and the striker converted the resulting penalty despite Jørgensen getting a hand to it.
Marc Cucurella brought Chelsea level on the night in the 33rd minute, turning home Jadon Sancho’s low cross from close range. The Spanish left-back thought he had scored again before halftime, but his second effort was ruled out for offside by VAR.
Legia regained the lead in the 53rd minute when French defender Steve Kapuadi headed home from close range following a corner, ensuring a victory on the night for the Polish visitors.
Despite the defeat, Chelsea progressed thanks to their first-leg cushion. However, the performance did little to ease concerns surrounding Enzo Maresca’s side. Substitutes Noni Madueke and Tyrique George went close late on, with George also having a goal disallowed for offside, but the team were booed off by some sections of the home support at full time after another disjointed display.
The match extended worrying goal droughts for key attackers Cole Palmer (now 15 games without a goal), Nicolas Jackson (12 games), and Christopher Nkunku (8 games). Cucurella remains the team’s top scorer since mid-December.
Chelsea, the favourites for Europe’s third-tier competition, will face Swedish side Djurgårdens IF in the semi-finals.5 Djurgårdens overcame Rapid Vienna 4-1 after extra time in their second leg (winning 4-2 on aggregate). Winning the Conference League guarantees Chelsea a place in next season’s Europa League.
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