Jadon Sancho (right) assisted Marc Cucurella’s goal in the second leg of the Conference League quarterfinals. / IMAGO/Sportimage
Chelsea fell 1–2 to Legia Warszawa in the second leg of the UEFA Conference League quarterfinals, losing their perfect record in the competition but advancing to the semifinals with a 4–2 win on aggregate.
Cole Palmer had two golden opportunities to open the scoring in the first 10 minutes, but he couldn’t break out from his 14-game goal drought. After Palmer’s misses, the visitors opened the scoring in the 10th minute thanks to a clumsy penalty given away by Filip Jörgensen that Tomáš Pekhart converted into the first goal of the match.
Chelsea managed to find the equalizer before halftime. Jadon Sancho provided his third assist of the quarterfinals for Marc Cucurella to score and restore the Blues’ three-goal lead in the tie. The Spaniard thought he’d scored his brace in the 40th minute, but the goal was disallowed for offside.
Legia Warszawa started the second half strong and quickly retook the lead when Steve Kapuadi took advantage of Chelsea’s poor man-marking on a corner kick to pounce from short distance.
In the end, Legia were unable to muster more goals to overcome Chelsea’s 3–0 first leg win. However, the Polish outfit will be proud to have ended their European campaign with a victory at Stamford Bridge.
Despite securing qualification, Chelsea’s performance left plenty to be desired and continued a worrying trend of poor and unconvincing displays. Enzo Maresca’s side look far from the level they showed in the first half of the season and, if they continue like this, the Conference League title isn’t a certainty, let alone finishing in the Champions League places in the Premier League.
Player ratings from the game below.
Players
Ratings
GK: Filip Jörgensen
6/10
RB: Josh Acheampog
6.6/10
CB: Tosin Adarabioyo
6.9/10
CB: Benoît Badiashile
7.3/10
LB: Marc Cucurella
7.8/10
CM: Reece James
7/10
CM: Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall
6.4/10
RW: Jadon Sancho
7.8/10
AM: Cole Palmer
6/10
LW: Christopher Nkunku
6.8/10
ST: Nicolas Jackson
6.3/10
SUB: Tyrique George (46′ for Jackson)
6.3/10
SUB: Malo Gusto (57′ for Cucurella)
6.6/10
SUB: Noni Madueke (58′ for Palmer)
6.1/10
SUB: Pedro Neto (83′ for Sancho)
N/A
Published 50 Minutes Ago|Modified 5:27 PM EDT
