Chelsea take on the visitors Legia in the second leg of UEFA Conference League round of quarterfinals. First leg result: 0-3. The match will be played on Thursday, April 17th at Stamford Bridge, London.
Chelsea made some progress last season. But the decision to part ways with Mauricio Pochettino after just one year, despite his return to London, shows the board wasn’t satisfied — he only managed a 6th-place finish in the Premier League. Now Enzo Maresca is in charge, and it’s clear that the club expects real success under him, with full focus placed on the domestic campaign. Still, even a rotated squad — featuring the likes of Mudryk — has been more than enough to dominate their European opposition. The only team to beat Chelsea in Europe this season was Servette, and that was back in the second leg of the qualifiers. Since then, they’ve cruised through every challenge, including comfortably dispatching Copenhagen in 2024. In Poland, the home side held on in the first half, but Chelsea’s quality took over after the break, as they scored three times to end the contest. The Blues are currently on a six-match winning streak across all competitions, averaging over 2.5 goals per game in that run. Even with rotation, Maresca’s side continues to look cohesive and clinical.
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Legia will fight to keep their European fairytale alive. The Army Men have once again fallen short domestically — not only have they missed out on the Ekstraklasa title, but even replicating last year’s 3rd-place finish looks out of reach now. That leaves them free to throw everything into their European adventure, which has already gone further than most expected. They had near-perfect form earlier in the tournament, winning consistently both in the summer qualifiers and during the group stage. Yes, they stumbled in December against both Lugano and Djurgården, but they rebounded well in the round of 16. Against Molde, they fought back from a 0-3 away loss to win 1-0 in Warsaw and sealed the tie with a dramatic extra-time goal from Gual in the 108th minute. Last week, however, they were thoroughly outclassed by the tournament favourites at home. They’ll now head to London with pride and determination, knowing the odds are firmly against them. The squad is dealing with some fatigue, but they’ve consistently shown heart and resilience in tough situations.
This is the first-ever meeting between these two clubs. Everything has already been decided, and Maresca will likely field a heavily rotated squad. But even the reserves should win by more than a single goal — back the Blues with a -1.5 goal handicap.
Prediction for the match: Chelsea to win with -1.5 handicap.
