Chelsea are all but in the Europa Conference League final after battering Swedish minnows Djurgarden 4-1 in the first leg of their semi-final.
Enzo Maresca’s side travelled to Sweden on Thursday night as heavy favourites and delivered a routine win with minimal fuss.
The Premier League giants took an early lead through Jadon Sancho – though the final touch came via a shambolic intervention from Marcus Danielson, who failed to clear after Sancho beat goalkeeper Jacob Rinne.
As expected, it was all far too easy for the Blues. Noni Madueke doubled the lead just before half-time with a smart finish.
Despite cruising at 2-0, Chelsea made four changes at the break. On came Moises Caicedo, Cole Palmer, Trevoh Chalobah and Nicolas Jackson for Reece James, Enzo Fernandez, Marc Cucurella and Madueke.
It was a perfect chance for Palmer to end his 17-game goal drought, but alas, it’s now a ridiculous 18. The man just needs a penalty.
Jackson didn’t have the same issue, scoring twice in six minutes to make it four. Unfortunately for Filip Jorgensen, he was denied a clean sheet by 18-year-old Isak Alemayehu Mulugeta, who nodded in a consolation goal in the 68th minute.
Chelsea are through. Let’s not pretend Djurgarden are coming to Stamford Bridge and pulling off a miracle. Over in Spain, Real Betis beat Fiorentina 2-1 in the other semi-final.
Abde Ezzalzouli opened the scoring for Betis and Antony – yes, that Antony – made it 2-0 with his sixth goal for the La Liga side. Fiorentina, having lost the last two Conference League finals, will be huge underdogs if they reach a third. But maybe, just maybe, third time’s the charm.
As good as Chelsea’s evening was in Stockholm, their biggest win came 2,100 kilometres away at the City Ground.
Nottingham Forest were beaten 2-0 by Brentford – a result with serious implications for the Premier League’s race for the Champions League.
Chelsea stay above Nuno Espirito Santo’s side, who would have leapfrogged them into third with a win.
There are four games left and these two play each other on the final day. Yum.