Chelsea continue to find the Conference League a bit too easy.
They made themselves heavy favourites to reach the semi-finals of Europe’s third-tier cup competition with a 3-0 victory at Legia Warsaw, with Enzo Maresca able to manage the minutes of both Cole Palmer and Reece James while also fielding a handful of teenage prospects.
One of the latter, Tyrique George, scored his first senior Chelsea goal to get his side up and running in Poland before Noni Madueke scored twice to give his side a comfortable lead ahead of next week’s quarter-final second leg at Stamford Bridge.
It wasn’t all plain sailing, however, with Christopher Nkunku missing a second-half penalty to cap a frustrating evening for the French forward.
Liam Twomey breaks down the main talking points from Warsaw.
George’s moment to savour
It was evident from his ecstatic reaction, wheeling and spinning away towards the corner flag in front of the Legia ultras, that George has been eagerly waiting for this moment.
George’s first senior Chelsea goal arrived on his 17th senior appearance. More than half of them have come in the UEFA Conference League and he has steadily grown in confidence and stature on this stage —- particularly as he has increasingly been deployed in positions that maximise his abilities.
Here, he began in his favoured position on the left flank and probed Legia’s low block relentlessly, but Chelsea’s broader caution in possession limited his scope to take risks. His best moment shortly before the break, running onto a sharp Jadon Sancho pass into a crossing position on the left, with his delivery falling agonisingly short of reaching Palmer.
Whenever words of advice were needed for George or fellow Cobham graduate Josh Acheampong, club captain Reece James was ready and willing to provide them, but it was a subtle tactical reshuffle that paved the way for the young winger’s biggest contribution.
Palmer’s withdrawal for Madueke shifted Sancho to the left, Nkunku into a deeper role and George into the No 9 position, from where he showed natural goalscoring instincts to react quickest to Kacper Tobiasz parrying James’s shot back into danger.
There should be more Chelsea goals in George’s future but this was a big moment that solidified the hugely encouraging progress he has made in recent months.
Nkunku’s Chelsea career continues to underwhelm
There was a grim sense of inevitability as Nkunku faced down a wall of deafening Legia whistles and prepared to take a penalty kick in the 73rd minute.
Southampton and Morecambe are the only two teams to have conceded goals to Nkunku since he last found the net in the Conference League against Heidenheim in November. Whether it be positional discomfort, a crisis of confidence or emotional disengagement in what are surely the final months of his Chelsea career, he has receded almost entirely from view.
It was much the same in Warsaw, where spent the first half either as a bystander to Chelsea’s possession up front or dropping deep to touch the ball in areas Legia did not care about.
Maresca attempted to remedy that at half-time by moving him deeper, but Chelsea’s best football was still played by others around Nkunku — namely by George, Sancho and Madueke.
So when his moment to make a direct impact from the spot arrived, it was no surprise to see Tobiasz fly to his right and beat away Nkunku’s telegraphed penalty attempt.
It mattered not to Chelsea on a night when they still had far too much for Legia, but there will come a time before the end of May when Nkunku hurts his team in a game settled by fine margins — though on the strength of his form in 2025, he might not even make it onto the pitch.
Have no fear, Chelsea are here
The famous atmosphere of the Marshall Jozef Pilsudski Municipal Stadium was the main topic of Chelsea’s pre-match media duties.
Maresca and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall were both asked about it, and the Italian even revealed he had shown his players clips of the Legia ultras who stand, often bounce, and always sing behind the goal at the north end of the ground.
How would Chelsea deal with it? Ahead of kick-off, the intimidation was ramped up with a giant tifo of a knight using his sword to stab a lion (mercifully, it did not particularly resemble either of the Stamford Bridge mascots, Stamford or Bridget) above the words “FEAR NO ONE”.
But once the referee blew his whistle, the match and the atmosphere co-existed in parallel but entirely separate universes.
Legia’s ultras maintained a constant rhythm with their volume but so did Chelsea with their passing, and the ultra-cautious 5-4-1 low block of the home side quickly turned proceedings into a glorified possession drill. Clear chances were few and far between in a forgettable opening period — Maresca’s team have now gone 315 first-half minutes without scoring — but there was even less sense of jeopardy.
Chelsea did not blink even when kicking towards the Legia ultras after the break and were swiftly rewarded for their composure, even after Maresca opted to substitute Palmer at the break as he continues to manage his superstar’s minutes.
George followed up Reece James’ low shot to break the deadlock in the 49th minute and Madueke slotted in from Jadon Sancho’s low pass shortly before the hour mark, and then just 25 seconds after Nkunku’s missed penalty. After that, the songs, the drums and the whistles continued unabated, but there was a decidedly low-stakes feel as Chelsea continued to dominate without breaking a sweat.
At least some of Legia’s fans will have another chance to make themselves heard when they travel to Stamford Bridge next week but, on this evidence, it will not affect anything.
What next for Chelsea?
Sunday, April 13: Ipswich (Home), Premier League, 2pm UK, 9am ET
(Top photo: Rafal Oleksiewicz/PA Images via Getty Images)
