Chelsea will take a 2-1 lead into the second leg of their Conference League last-16 tie against Copenhagen after fine finishes from Reece James and Enzo Fernandez bucked the trend of an otherwise drab meeting in Denmark.
After a first half in which a rejigged Chelsea line-up largely failed to trouble their hosts, Enzo Maresca inserted some of his regular Premier League starters and the shape of the game altered at once, James breaking the deadlock from range 56 seconds after the interval.
Fernandez made it two midway through the half after being set up by 18-year-old Tyrique George to go some of the way towards erasing memories of a grim first half, though it left Maresca with much to ponder in his bid to carve out a top-four finish domestically.
They had themselves to blame for not emerging with a more commanding lead, leaving space for defender Gabriel Pereira to head a free-kick powerfully past Robert Sanchez in the 79th minute to give the Danish champions encouragement for next Thursday’s return leg at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea lost Malo Gusto – starting in the unfamiliar position of left-back – to injury after 23 minutes, the defender seeming to catch his foot in the turf as he blocked a cross before limping from the pitch.
The first half passed with the visitors managing just a single shot on goal, a speculative Cole Palmer volley that trickled wide, while Copenhagen posed little greater threat despite raucous home support.
It was one of the more frustrating halves Maresca’s side had endured even on their rocky patch of form that stretched back to December, trying and failing to find the pass that would allow their wingers George and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to get around the back of Copenhagen, who defended with discipline and what little rigour Chelsea demanded of them.
The Blues boss responded by sending on Christopher Nkunku, Levi Colwill and Fernandez, and having assumed a more familiar look to their line-up they took under a minute of the second half to break through.
Marc Cucurella won the ball tenaciously near the left touchline and ran in behind Copenhagen. Looking up he saw James striding through midfield into space, and as the cut-back arrived in front of him he stroked it with a cool, crisp instep beyond goalkeeper Diant Ramaj.
Copenhagen then hit the post, threatening an immediate reply as Viktor Claesson’s shot struck the inside of the upright and landed in the grateful arms of Sanchez.
Palmer guided an effort fractionally beyond the post as his scoreless run stretched to eight games, but a second Chelsea goal was not long in coming.
It arrived in the 65th minute, George earning his fourth assist of the season and his second in two games, following good work from Cucurella and Nkunku, to tee up Fernandez who picked out the corner of Ramaj’s goal.
Chelsea looked to have one foot in the quarter-final, then Pereira drifted unmarked into the penalty area to head a goal to give the home side hope ahead of the return.
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