Chelsea began the game with a burst of activity, and really could’ve scored at least once in the first five minutes, but neither Christopher Nkunku or Cole Palmer could come up with the telling touch.
Just as we looked to settle in for some sustained pressure, a bit of rash goalkeeping gifted a penalty to Legia against the run of play, with Tomáš Pekhart winning and duly converting it — despite taking it quite poorly and Jorgensen getting both hands to it.
Chelsea’s confidence appeared to crumble at that point and it took us a good 20 minutes to rediscover it and produce some semi-useful football.
An rare incisive foray forward on the flank got us level not long after, with Jadon Sancho setting up Marc Cucurella for a tap-in. Cucu then had a second called back for an offside, and we went into halftime all even at 1-1.
Some horrendous defending on a corner made things interesting again, and not in a good way, with Legia going back ahead on the night just minutes into the second period as well.
A couple substitutions re-injected some pace and endeavor into our game, but Legia’s goalkeeper make a few good saves and Tyrique George also saw an effort cleared off the line. Meanwhile at the other end, Jorgensen nearly gave away another penalty but the referees decided it was Luquinhas who had initiated the contact. Seen those given.
Chelsea then had a second goal ruled out for offside (rightly, again) before things settled back down for a fairly tame final 10-15 minutes. Both sides had a couple sights at goal, but it never really looked like another goal would happen for either.
But hey, into the semifinals we go, still winning quite easily 4-2 on aggregate.
Carefree.
- Plenty of rotation from Maresca, but also starts for Palmer, Cucurella, and Jackson. The latter came off at the half, the other two at the hour-mark
- None of the new kids on the bench get a sniff of action with the scoreline this silly
- Club-record winning run in European competitions ends at 9; first defeat since the second leg of the qualifier against Servette.
- We will face the winners of Rapid Vienna vs. Djurgarden in the semis (May 1 & May 8); they’re about to head into extra-time in their quarterfinal matchup
- Next up: Fulham away, on Sunday
- KTBFFH
