Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca expressed concern at the “easy chances” his team are missing after they limped into the Conference League semi-final despite a second-leg defeat to Legia Warsaw at Stamford Bridge.
The 2-1 loss to the team currently fifth in the Polish Ekstraklasa drew boos from supporters at full-time and was the second home game in a row in which fans had loudly voiced their growing discontent.
Things could have been different had Cole Palmer taken a straightforward chance to end his three-month goal drought inside the opening five minutes, skewing his shot wide when through on goal, whist Christopher Nkunku also spurned a good opening.
Chelsea will face Swedish side Djurgarden in the #UECL semi-finals. 🏆
Fixture confirmation will be announced in due course. pic.twitter.com/3VtbZVLC93
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) April 17, 2025
The inclusion of Palmer and striker Nicolas Jackson was a surprise given the first-leg score and that Chelsea are locked in a tight battle to qualify for the Champions League and face a London derby away at Fulham on Sunday.
“The (chances) that we are missing unfortunately are very easy goals,” said Maresca.
“Tonight the first five minutes we had two chances, but it can happen. Hopefully very soon Nico and Cole can start to score goals because they are very important for us.
“The idea was just for them, especially for Nico after more than two months out, the idea was to continue to build the physical condition for him. To give them a bit of tempo to be better for Sunday.
“If they are able to score it could be a good boost for them. But we managed in the wrong way the first leg result, but the good thing is we have six Premier League games that are important for us. Fortunately we can rotate players.”
Chelsea face Swedish side Djurgarden in the semi-final but were made to sweat by Legia who went ahead after 10 minutes courtesy of a penalty from former Tottenham player Tomas Pekhart, who slotted home after being fouled by goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen.
Marc Cucurella scored his sixth goal of the season to equalise but Chelsea were caught out again from a corner early in the second half, Claude Goncalves was left free on the edge of the box to volley a corner towards goal, and unmarked in front of Jorgensen was Steve Kapaudi who headed in.
Goal number 6️⃣ for Cucu this season! 🙌#CFC | #UECL pic.twitter.com/5NmHXHUL3J
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) April 17, 2025
“We’re not happy with the defeat, but probably after the first leg we tried to manage the result, rotate players and try to avoid injury because have an important game Sunday. Not happy with the result but we’re in the semi-final.”
Maresca added that he saw no reason for alarm regarding the supporters’ reaction.
“For me tonight the environment was good, I didn’t see any bad moments from the fans. We need to engage them.”
Legia boss Goncalo Feio reflected on how close his side came to staging a shock.
“It’s easy to fall into the mistake of people making you believe things are not possible,” he said.
“We played an amazing opponent. The lesson I’d like my players to take for all their careers is that there are no impossible things.”
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