Chelsea made life far more difficult than it needed to be as they slipped to a 2-1 defeat at home to Legia Warsaw on Thursday night but still advanced to the UEFA Conference League semi-finals with a 4-2 aggregate win.
With a comfortable three-goal cushion from the first leg, Enzo Maresca’s side were tipped to ease through at Stamford Bridge. However, despite fielding a strong starting XI, the Blues once again struggled to convince, continuing a worrying trend after a similarly lacklustre display against Ipswich Town at the weekend.
The match got off to a shaky start when stand-in goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen conceded a penalty just ten minutes in, tripping Tomas Pekhart inside the box. The striker dusted himself off and squeezed his spot-kick past Jorgensen to give the visitors early hope.
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Legia nearly doubled their lead through Ryoya Morishita, but it was Chelsea who struck next—Marc Cucurella arriving at the back post to convert a low cross from Jadon Sancho just before the half-hour mark. The Spaniard thought he had a second just before the break, only for VAR to chalk it off for an earlier offside.
The visitors restored their lead shortly after the interval when Steve Kapuadi rose highest to head home from a corner. The centre-back then produced a heroic block at the other end, clearing Tyrique George’s effort off the line. George did find the net late on, but the offside flag denied him as Chelsea’s frustrations grew.
Despite never taking control of the match, the Blues did enough to see out the tie, even as boos rang out at full-time. It was far from convincing, but Chelsea march on to the semi-finals—where they’ll need a serious improvement to stand a chance of lifting silverware.
