Chelsea beat Brighton
Chelsea squeeze into Conference semis despite Legia defeat
Chelsea edged into the UEFA Conference League semi-finals on Thursday when a 2-1 home defeat by Legia Warsaw was enough for a 4-2 aggregate win.
Chelsea went 1-0 down to a 10th minute penalty before Marc Cucurella’s close-range equaliser on 33, but French defender Steve Kapuadi put the Poles ahead again in the 53rd minute with what proved to be the winner on the night.
Legia had a lively following at Stamford Bridge with flares and shirtless chanting from around 1,000 clearly delighted fans.
Thanks to their 3-0 win in Poland a week ago Chelsea however will next face Sweden’s Djurgardens, who thumped 10-man Rapid Vienna 4-1 away in extra-time their second leg.
A penalty by Czech forward Tomas Pekhart gave Legia the lead before Cucurella levelled and then saw a goal ruled out by VAR before Kapuadi’s winner.
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The manner in which Chelsea were defeated at home by the team currently fifth in the Polish Ekstraklasa, does not bode well for their Premier League top-five bid as coach Enzo Maresca’s problems continued to mount.
But Chelsea remain favourites to join Roma, West Ham and Olympiakos as winners of the third-tier European competition.
Twice runners-up Fiorentina drew 2-2 in a see-saw match with Slovenians Celje, going 1-0 up in the first half before slipping to 2-1 down with on form Moise Keane scoring the clincher for a 4-3 aggregate win.
In their semi they face in-form La Liga side Real Betis who drew 1-1 at home to secure a 3-1 aggregate win over Jagiellonia Bialystok of Poland.
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