Chelsea edge Copenhagen to gain upper hand in Conference League last-16 tie
Conference League favorites Chelsea secured a 2-1 victory over Copenhagen in the first leg of their last-16 encounter in Denmark.
After a lackluster first half without a single shot on target, Enzo Maresca’s side broke the deadlock just a minute into the second half. Substitute Marc Cucurella, replacing the injured Malo Gusto, surged down the left wing and delivered a precise pass to captain Reece James, who unleashed a stunning 30-yard low strike into the net.
Copenhagen came close to an equalizer when Viktor Claesson’s angled effort struck the inside of the post and fell straight into the arms of Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez.
Chelsea doubled their lead in the 65th minute, with Cucurella playing a pivotal role again. After winning the ball near the touchline, Christopher Nkunku fed Tyrique George, whose cut-back was expertly finished by substitute Enzo Fernandez.
The hosts managed to pull one back through Gabriel Pereira, who headed in Marcos Lopez’s deep free-kick. Despite the late scare, Chelsea remain in a commanding position to advance to the quarter-finals.
The second leg is set for Stamford Bridge on Thursday, 13 March, at 20:00 GMT. The aggregate winners will face either Molde or Legia Warsaw in the last eight.
Blues find a way as Palmer fails to end goal drought
Poland will host the final, on Wednesday, 28 May at the Wroclaw Stadium in Wroclaw and Chelsea will expect to be there.
The Blues won the Champions League as recently as 2021 and have a great chance of more continental success in Europe’s third-tier tournament. Victory would guarantee them a place in next season’s Europa League at least, although they could still qualify for the Champions League via their league position.
They cruised through the league phase, winning all six matches, scoring 26 goals and only conceding five and were able to do that without England midfielder Cole Palmer, who was left out of the squad for that part of the competition to manage his workload.
Maresca has been able to give his squad members game time in this tournament and named teenage forward Shumaira Mheuka in the starting 11 as the England Under-19 international, at 17 years 137 days, became Chelsea’s youngest player to start a match in major European competition.
However, he was ineffective and part of a Maresca triple substitution at half-time, before his side instantly scored in the second half.
Copenhagen, top of the Danish Superliga, were playing their 15th match of the competition after they began in the second qualifying round in July. They have beaten Scottish duo Kilmarnock and Hearts along the way and edged past German side Heidenheim after extra time of their play-off last month, winning 4-3 on aggregate.
There was a fine atmosphere at the Parken Stadium, but the action on the pitch initially disappointed in an uninspiring first half.
Copenhagen had the only shot on target, Elias Achouri’s low shot which was easily saved by Sanchez after only four minutes.
Palmer, now without a goal in eight matches, volleyed wide from 22 yards, and a George header was well off target in Chelsea’s only notable first-half attempts.
The action had to improve, and it did with a much better second half as Chelsea now only need a draw in the second leg at home to finish off the job in seven days’ time.
Player of the match
E. Fernández