Legia Warsaw vs Chelsea

Stadion Wojska Polskiego forms the backdrop for an exciting first-leg clash between Legia Warsaw and Chelsea in the Europa Conference League quarter-finals. 

Legia fought back from a 3-2 first-leg defeat at Molde in the round of 16 to reach their first European quarter-final in 29 years, setting up a mouth-watering tie against Chelsea. Despite facing long odds in this showdown, the hosts can draw confidence from a three-match unbeaten domestic run in the build-up to this fixture (W2, D1), especially considering their sturdy defense capitulated only once in that stretch. However, Legia slumped to a 4-2 aggregate loss to Manchester United in their only previous UEFA knockout tie against English opposition back in the 1990/91 European Cup Winners’ Cup semi-final. Against this backdrop, they’ve won their last three European home encounters against English visitors. Furthermore, they won four of their five home matches in this season’s competition without conceding (L1), suggesting they’re no pushovers by any stretch of the imagination.

On the other hand, Chelsea have lived up to their tag as the leading candidate to lift the Conference League crown this season, winning all eight games since the start of the competition, including a 3-1 aggregate win against Copenhagen in the previous knockout round to book their 19th UEFA quarter-final date. However, Enzo Maresca’s side slumped to a scoreless draw at Brentford in the Premier League last weekend, dampening their spirits as they bid to reach the UEFA semi-finals for the first time since winning the Champions League title in 2021. Despite that setback, the Blues boast an intimidating record of 11 triumphs from their last 14 two-legged European ties.