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11 hours ago
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The partying in the stands was at odds with everything taking place on the artificial pitch. There was no irony about the celebrations from the noisy Djurgården fans when their team finally found the back of the net. The roar was deafening and the emotion was genuine. The only problem, though, was that Chelsea were already four goals to the good by the time Isak Alemayehu Mulugeta got the underdogs on the scoresheet in Stockholm.
It was not a great look for a competition that Uefa invented for the benefit of Europe’s smaller clubs. Chelsea against the 11th best team in Sweden for a place in the final of the Conference League? It was never going to be much of a contest. Chelsea played a weakened team but still headed back to London with a 4-1 lead after Enzo Fernández continued his impressive form by making early goals for Jadon Sancho and Noni Madueke before Nicolas Jackson came off the bench to score twice in the second half. The only disappointment for Enzo Maresca was Cole Palmer failing to end his goal drought.
There was something ludicrous about a European semi-final being contested by one team who have spent over £1bn in the space of three years and another whose record transfer stands at £1.5m. Maresca’s pre-match insistence that games are never decided by money alone felt hard to take seriously. Do Chelsea really have what it takes not to win this competition? Followers of Djurgården saw little chance of an upset. After all they were not expected to beat Rapid Vienna in the previous round and, to put things in context, this is already their best run in Europe since they reached the quarter-finals of the European Cup 70 years ago.
The sense was that Djurgården’s best hope lay in the dodgy pitch at the 3Arena acting as a leveller. Maresca, who was concerned about the surface causing injuries, took no chances. He rotated heavily and had many of his best players on the bench.
Chelsea still had too much quality. There were a few moments when the pitch disrupted their passing but dealing with a ferocious atmosphere proved less of a problem. Djurgården were soon being moved around and were behind after 13 minutes, their back four prised apart when Fernández found Sancho and the winger chested the ball down before scoring with a shot that went in largely thanks to Marcus Danielson making a mess of his attempted goalline clearance.
At least the home fans remained in high spirits. Djurgården, though, struggled to lay a glove on Chelsea during the first half. The visitors looked too quick, strong and smart. Tyrique George, the exciting 19-year-old attacker, was a handful after being deployed through the middle. Darting across the frontline, he was soon involved as Chelsea threatened to double their lead, only for Marc Cucurella to screw a shot wide from 20 yards.
It began to feel like a group game. Reece James, stationed in midfield, dinked a ball over the top for Madueke, whose effort was turned over by Jacob Rinne. Another goal was a matter of time. Chelsea threatened whenever they picked up the pace. They led 2-0 when Fernández provided more incision in his role as No 10, teeing up Madueke to beat Rinne with a low shot in the 43rd minute.
There was more good news for Chelsea when they heard that Nottingham Forest, rivals for one of England’s five Champions League spots, were losing at home to Brentford. As for Djurgården, their task was made even harder by Maresca bringing on Jackson, Palmer, Trevoh Chalobah and Moisés Caicedo at half-time.
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There were some flashes of defiance from the hosts. Tokmac Nguen was lively on the left, August Priske twice went close and Filip Jörgensen did well to tip over a header from Danielson at the start of the second half.
The resistance ended, though, when Jackson took advantage of a defensive mix-up and tapped into an empty net in the 59th minute. Tightening their grip, Chelsea had a fourth when Jackson turned and whipped a lovely effort beyond Rinne six minutes later.
Djurgården kept going. They had joy down the left and pulled one back when Tobias Gulliksen crossed for Alemayehu to bounce a header past Jörgensen. Chelsea still cruised to victory. It will not be until they reach the final and face either Real Betis or Fiorentina in Wroclaw later this month that they encounter anything remotely resembling true jeopardy.
