Chelsea beat Legia Warszaw 3-0 in Poland in the quarter-final first leg of the UEFA Conference League on Thursday.
Cole Palmer only made his second start in the contest, and Christopher Nkunku got the nod ahead of Nicolas Jackson at the front. In the first half, however, the visitors were unable to break through, with Kieran Dewsbury-Hall coming closest. Legia was able to maintain their shape despite their dominance in possession thanks to their slow play. Palmer was withdrawn at half-time, and four minutes after the restart, a reinvigorated Chelsea took the lead when Reece James’ low shot from distance was pushed into the path of Tyrique George for his first senior goal.
Noni Madueke, on for Palmer, made it two on 57 minutes from a Jadon Sancho assist, and 17 minutes later the midfielder scored his second after another Sancho pass. Nkunku missed a penalty kick just 25 seconds earlier, continuing his poor play. Legia were unable to reduce the deficit, meaning Chelsea are huge favourites to get through to the last four of the competition, with the second leg to come next Thursday.
In the first half, despite having 75% possession and nine shots to the hosts' three, the Blues were unable to score. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall's curling effort was expertly pushed away by goalkeeper Kacper Tobiasz, and Rafał Augustyniak did well to stop Christopher Nkunku from turning the ball home from close range.
At the other end, Max Oydele played a delightful through ball to find Ryota Morishita but the Japanese forward couldn't keep his effort on target when in a good position.
Tyrique George, 19, scored his first goal for Maresca in the 49th minute after Reece James' shot was not held by Tobiasz during the halftime team talk. Eight minutes later, substitute Madueke found Jadon Sancho in the box, and the winger finished with skill to make it 2-0. Sancho set up Madueke again from close range to make it 3-0 with 16 minutes remaining just moments after Nkunku failed to convert the penalty he won. Patryk Kun brought a great reaction stop out of Filip Jorgensen at the death as Chelsea took a hefty advantage into the second leg of this Conference League quarter-final tie.
GOAL rates Chelsea's players from Marshall Józef Piłsudski Legia Warsaw Stadium...
Cole Palmer (6/10):
He showed some positive signs but this is not the same player that was tearing up the Premier League earlier this season.
7/10: Jadon Sancho He didn't do much in the first 45 minutes, but he was much more of a threat after the break when he had two assists.
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