In what to many would be a shocking result, Stamford Bridge played host to a Legia Warsaw victory over Chelsea that was ultimately not enough to take them through to the Conference League semi-finals.
It was the visitors who would open the scoring as Pekhart squeezed a penalty past Jörgensen, before the Blues got one back via Marc Cucurella.
Legia would regain the lead early into the second half through a header from Steve Kapaudi to secure an impressive win for the Polish outfit.
Positivity from Legia:
One thing that Legia Warsaw certainly lacked last week was positivity as the Polish side failed to put Chelsea under pressure, making the night much easier than it had to be for the Blues.
This was not the case at Stamford Bridge however, as the visitors got off to a lightning quick start as it was clear they were looking to press much more often than they had last time out.
Legia did get their reward for this with a penalty converted in an unconvincing manner by Tomas Pekhart as Filip Jörgensen, who gave away the penalty, got a hand to the ball but could not prevent it from rolling past him.
Having already cut the deficit down by a goal, Legia Warsaw had another threatening opportunity as Ryoya Morishita darted down the right of the pitch and blasted a shot towards the far post of Filip Jörgensen.
Chelsea hit back:
Despite performing at a subpar level for majority of the first half, the Blues found their equaliser not long after the half an hour mark.
Jadon Sancho, who assisted two of the goals in the reverse fixture and scored a wondergoal against Ipswich at the weekend, squared the ball into the box where Marc Cucurella was waiting to tap it into the net.
The defender who, perhaps concerningly for Enzo Maresca, is Chelsea’s top scorer this calendar year, scored his second in the Conference League, with the first coming against Shamrock Rovers.
The Spaniard thought he had given his side the lead as he blasted the ball squared to him by Christopher Nkunku into the back of the net. However, Cucurella was deemed to off made contact with the ball in an offside position before Nkunku brought it down, leading to the goal being ruled out.
Another concerning first half for Chelsea:
It seems to have been a pattern recently in the conference league that Chelsea have struggled in the first half. This was visible in the reverse fixture as well as in the previous round against F.C. Copenhagen.
This was no different tonight, as to many people’s surprise, the Blues struggled to dominate the match in the way they were expected to, as well as not creating many clear-cut chances.
At half time, the xG was 0.98 – 0.91 in Chelsea’s favour – a much closer figure than anyone would have imagined after seeing how strong Chelsea’s starting 11 was.
After all the criticism faced by Enzo Maresca following the lacklustre 2-2 draw against Ipswich, Chelsea would need a big response in the second half.
Legia show more fight:
Unlike the recent games that have consisted of poor first halves, Chelsea did not improve like they would have hoped in the second half as Legia Warsaw continued to look the more hungry of the pair.
The visitors retook the lead only eight minutes into the second half as a cross from Claude Goncalves met the head of Steve Kapaudi, who caught the Chelsea defence napping, and put the ball in the net from point-blank range.
Only when Tyrique George and Noni Madueke were both present on the pitch did Chelsea pose any real threat, with George having the ball in the net at one point.
The goal was once again ruled out as Noni Madueke was marginally offside in the build-up to the goal before he fizzed it across towards George.
But despite only having 30% of the ball, the visitors only recorded three less shots than the hosts as well as a superior xG (2.00 – 2.22).
Stamford Bridge descended into a choir of boos once again as the Blues lost in Europe for only the second time this season and continued their concerning form in the business end of the season.
The Teams:
Chelsea: F. Jörgensen, J. Acheampong, T. Adarabioyo, B. Badiashile, M. Cucurella (M. Gusto 57′), R. James, K. Dewsbury-Hall, C. Nkunku, C. Palmer (N. Madueke 57′), J. Sancho (P. Neto 83′), N. Jackson (T. George 46′)
Booked: Filip Jörgensen, Benoit Badiashile
Unused Subs: R. Sanchez, L. Bergström, G. Antwi, M. Amougou, S. Rak-Sakyi, L. Emenalo, R. Walsh, S. Mhueka
Legia Warsaw: V. Kovacevic, R. Pankov, J. Ziolkowski (A. Jedrzejczyk 86′), S. Kapuadi, R. Vinagre, M. Oyedele, J. Elitim (R. Augustyniak 77′), C. Goncalves( V. Bichakhchyan 86′), R. Morishita, T. Pekhart (K. Chodyna 66′), Luquinhas (M. Szczepaniak 77′)
Booked:
Unused Subs: K. Tobiasz, M. Mendes-Dudzinski, P. Kun, O. Olewinski, P. Mozie