Chelsea secured a dominant 4-1 win away from home against Djurgåden in the first leg of the UECL Semi-final.
Goals from Jadon Sancho, Noni Madueke and a brace from Nicolas Jackson ensured Chelsea took a healthy lead back to Stamford Bridge for the second leg.
Substitute Isak Alemayehu Mulugeta got the solitary goal for the hosts before Chelsea brought 16-year-old Reggie Walsh off the bench to hand another debut to one of their academy players.
The State of Play:
One of the big talking points ahead of the match was the condition that Djurgården’s pitch was in, with it even being reported that players of the Swedish outfit and their manager, Jani Honkavaara, had complaints about the state of the pitch.
Enzo Maresca also had his say on it, stating that he was ‘worried’ about the pitch in his pre-match conference, but made clear that there were no excuses ahead of this match.
Chelsea strike first:
Despite losing out on a lot of the physical battles in the first ten minutes, the Blues settled very quickly and matched the intensity of the hosts very quickly – an improvement from their previous UECL match against Legia Warsaw.
This soon bore fruit for Enzo Maresca’s side as Enzo Fernandez from the right wing towards the far post, which was brought down by Jadon Sancho, who blasted his attempt that was taken over the line by Marcus Danielson as he tried to block the shot.
Chelsea had the lead as they so often have in the conference league this season, but the challenge now would be to build on it.
The Blues take control of the tie:
Chelsea had shown a great work rate for the entirety of the half and had certainly not dropped their tempo after their opener, but they were still missing that second goal to make the game more comfortable for them.
This was until two minutes before half-time, when Noni Madueke curled the ball into the bottom left corner of the goal, out of reach for Jacob Rinne to double his side’s lead.
Enzo Fernandez got his second assist of the night, making a simple pass to the right to find his teammate.
Jackson at the double:
When it rains, it pours, and it just did that for Djurgåden, making a fatal mistake in the build-up to Chelsea’s third goal.
Cole Palmer played a ball forward to Nicolas Jackson that caused confusion at the back between Danielson and Rin to gift the Senegalese striker a simple goal.
Six minutes later, Jackson secured a brace for himself, this time with a more skilful finish, striking the ball beautifully into the top right corner.
A professional performance:
Djurgåden did get a goal back less than four minutes after Jackson’s second via teenage substitute Isak Alemayehu Mulugeta.
Despite missing out on the clean sheet, Chelsea were in control from start to finish and will be happy with how they maintained the same quality of performance for the entirety of the 90 minutes.
Djurgåden will now have a mountain to climb if they want to achieve history and make the UECL Final.
The Teams:
Chelsea: F. Jorgensen, J. Acheampong, B. Badiashile, T. Adarabioyo, M. Cucurella (Trevoh Chalobah 46′), R. James (M. Caicedo 46′), K. Dewsbury-Hall, E. Fernandez (Cole Palmer 46′), N. Madueke (Nicolas Jackson 46′), T. George (R. Walsh 88′), J. Sancho
Booked: M. Caicedo, T. Adarabioyo
Unused Substitutes: T. Curd, L. Bergström, L. Colwill, M. Gusto, M. Amougou, P. Neto, S. Mheuka
Djurgåden: J. Rinne, A. Ståhl, J. Larsson, M. Danielson (M. Tenho 63′), K. Kosugi (V. Bergh 80′), D. Stensson, H. Finndell, A. Priske, T. Gulliksen, S. Haarala (I. Mulugeta 63′), T. Nguen
Booked: T. Gulliksen
Unused Substitutes: M. Croon, A. Manneh, M. Persson, C. Selfven