Dire Chelsea lose to Legia but scrape through to European semi-final
- By Kaz Mochlinski
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
Chelsea (1) 1 v Legia Warszawa (1) 2
(Chelsea win 4-2 on aggregate)
Pekhart (pen) 10
Cucurella 33
Kapuadi 53
By Kaz Mochlinski at Stamford Bridge
UEFA Conference League
Quarter-Final, Second Leg
Chelsea achieved the aim of reaching the Conference League semi-finals but they only staggered through to a chorus of booing around Stamford Bridge after an abject defeat by Legia Warszawa.
Beaten 2-1 on the night, Chelsea progressed thanks to the 3-0 victory in the first leg in the Polish capital seven days earlier. Avoiding elimination to continue in the competition was the solitary redeeming feature this time.
The Conference League has been a source of comfort for Chelsea throughout this season at times of domestic difficulties. And their home form has kept the Blues buoyant lately. But both were shattered by losing to Legia.
This reverse ended a run of nine consecutive Chelsea wins in European matches, stretching back to a 2-1 defeat against Servette in Geneva in the Conference League Play-Off round in August.
Plus it was the first time that the Blues have been beaten at the Bridge in 2025, after going nine games without losing since succumbing 1-2 to Fulham on Boxing Day. In the Conference League at home they had a perfect record of five out of five.
Chelsea conceded quick goals to Legia in both the first and second half - after nine minutes and seven minutes respectively. Having managed to equalise once, they were unable to do it again, as the recent disconnect with the home fans grew ever greater.
Chelsea’s head coach Enzo Maresca had picked a fight with supporters after the draw with Ipswich Town at the weekend, complaining about not getting unwavering backing, and they responded by not turning up.
The official attendance figure of 32,549 was the lowest at Stamford Bridge this season, with huge swathes of seats staying empty around the ground, not just those left vacant for security requirements at UEFA matches.
Probably most troubling for the club’s owners would have been all the vacant spaces in the hospitality areas. The contrast to the Blues’ last European quarter-final in the Champions League just two years ago was immense.
That tie with Chelsea playing against Real Madrid feels already as if it was from another era a long time in the past. The same could be said of the Legia support at Stamford Bridge epically reviving the ultras fan culture of the previous century.
Limited to an allocation of only 1,021 in a markedly reduced visitors’ section in the corner of The Shed End because of incidents at past games in Europe prompting safety concerns, they brought some spectacular colour and noise to the Fulham Road.
Easily out-singing their much more numerous opposition, including with a Polish version of ‘Auld Lang Syne’, the Legia sector also all took off their tops in a synchronised display braving the chill of a Thursday night in London in April.
In the second half, they dramatically lit up the whole of their area with red flares. As pyrotechnics are banned from stadiums by UEFA, Legia will inevitably face another fine from European football’s governing body to add to a long list of recent punishments.
The Warsaw club have been sanctioned for their fans’ behaviour after 17 of their previous 30 ties in Europe since the start of last season. But the away supporters made an otherwise mundane match in the Conference League into a memorable occasion.
And they had an evident impact on the outcome at the Bridge. The Legia coach, Goncalo Feio, outlined that they expected the ground to be subdued after the overt unhappiness in the last few weeks with Chelsea’s results along with the team’s quality and style of play.
Legia believed beforehand that their travelling support would be heard, and they responded to it by performing without fear, against a strong Chelsea XI, including five first-choice regulars in Cole Palmer, Nicolas Jackson, Marc Cucurella, Reece James and Jadon Sancho.
With the latter two being played out of position, James in left midfield and Sancho on the right wing, Chelsea were caught adjusting early on, resulting in yet another Blues goalkeeping error, when Filip Jørgensen needlessly brought down Tomáš Pekhart to give away a penalty.
The Tottenham Hotspur academy graduate, and Legia’s captain on the night, got up to take the spot kick himself, giving the Poles the lead in the game and hopes of a comeback on aggregate, although probably Jørgensen should have saved it.
Maresca explained that he started with Palmer and Jackson because they need playing time for fitness reasons, but, while the latter is coming back from a hamstring injury, the former has only missed one match since early January, away at Arsenal.
Everyone else thought that Palmer and Jackson were chosen to try and end their long goal droughts, as their runs without scoring have now extended to 15 and 12 games respectively, in all competitions.
Palmer had an ideal opportunity straight away in the second minute but shot badly over. Then, prior to Legia’s goal, he got another with a header that was saved by Vladan Kovačević. Jackson never looked likely to create any similar situations.
Instead, Chelsea had to be grateful again to Sancho and Cucurella. Having scored the equaliser against Ipswich Town four days earlier to end his own sequence without a goal after 21 matches and four months, Sancho turned provider this time.
The winger had produced both of the assists for Chelsea goals in the away leg, and added the only one in the return contest just after the hour mark with a typical run and cross from the right for Cucurella to finish from close range.
Chelsea: (4-2-3-1) Jørgensen - Acheampong, Adarabioyo, Badiashile, Cucurella (Gusto 57) - Dewsbury-Hall, James - Sancho (Neto 83), Palmer (Madueke 57), Nkunku - Jackson (George 46)
Legia Warszawa: (4-1-3-2) Kovačević - Pankov, Ziółkowski (Jędrzejczyk 86), Kapuadi, Rúben Vinagre - Oyedele - Morishita, Elitim (Augustyniak 77), Luquinhas (Szczepaniak 77) - Pekhart (Chodyna 66), Gonçalves (Bichakhchyan 86)
Attendance: 32,549
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