In the rematch of their Europa Conference
League playoff match on Thursday, Chelsea will want to win in Switzerland against Servette, one week after winning the first leg at Stamford Bridge.
The West Londoners won their first meeting on home turf 2-0, and they take that two-goal lead into Stade de Geneve.
Chelsea’s first-leg victory over the newly-expanded 2024-25 Conference League was secured by goals from Christopher Nkunku and Noni Madueke in the second half, capping a season spent away from Europe.
After Nkunku’s coolly converted penalty, Madueke, a replacement, scored a lovely goal three days later. It was Madueke’s first senior career hat-trick, and it helped Chelsea defeat Wolverhampton Wanderers 6-2 in the Premier League on Sunday.
Wolves’ Matheus Cunha and Jorgen Strand
Larsen balanced out goals from Nicolas
Jackson and Cole Palmer in the first half, but Chelsea dominated the second half and won all three points thanks to Madueke’s treble (all assisted by Palmer) and a late goal from new acquisition Joao Felix.
After the game, an enthusiastic Enzo Maresca-now off to a poor start as a Premier League manager -admitted that Chelsea’s attacking showing in the second half is how his team “intends” to play moving forward.
However, the Italian also reaffirmed that he needs time to develop players and create a Blues team that can contend for major titles.
Chelsea needs only a draw against Servette to advance on aggregate and guarantee their spot in the hat for Friday’s
Conference League draw, as they have won their past three away games-two of which came from the previous season.
Despite having seven more shots and twice as many corners as Chelsea in the first leg of the match last week, Servette was unable to sustain a lead for long stretches of the match and now faces a difficult road to the Conference League for a second straight year.
Although head coach Thomas Haberli has acknowledged that a two-goal deficit is
“quite a lot” to overcome against a team of Chelsea’s caliber, he has refused to give up hope of pulling off an incredible upset in Geneva. Haberli lamented the wasted opportunities his team had at Stamford Bridge, especially in the second half.
Servette, who won the Swiss Cup and finished third in the Swiss Super League the previous season, had a full week off from domestic play last weekend, giving them time to recover and be ready for Thursday’s second leg.
The Maroons have struggled to produce positive results; they have only won one of their last six competitive games across all competitions this month. Their two losses have come at home, to Basel 6-0 in the top division and Braga 2-1 in the second leg of the Europa League third qualifying round.
Servette had only faced two English teams in European competition before their first-leg matchup with Chelsea. They had defeated Derby Country 6-2 on aggregate three years later in the UEFA Cup, and had lost 3-2 on aggregate to Liverpool in the
1971-72 Cup Winners’ Cup, despite winning the first leg 2-1.