Djurgardens IF vs Chelsea. UEFA Conference League Semi-finals.
Tele2 arenaAttendance26,703.
Djurgardens IF 1
- I Alemayehu (68th minute)
Chelsea 4
- J Sancho (12th minute)
- N Madueke (43rd minute)
- N Jackson (59th minute, 65th minute)
Djurgarden 1-4 Chelsea: Nicolas Jackson strikes twice as Blues take control of UEFA Conference League semi-final
Report as Jadon Sancho, Noni Madueke and two goals from Nicolas Jackson put Chelsea in charge of their UEFA Conference League semi-final with Djurgarden; second leg at Stamford Bridge is on May 8
Friday 2 May 2025 06:35, UK
Chelsea took control of their UEFA Conference League semi-final with a 4-1 win over Djurgarden in Stockholm.
On a near-perfect night for Enzo Maresca's side - which also included Premier League top-five rivals Nottingham Forest losing at home to Brentford - Chelsea made a huge step towards booking their place in the May 28 final in Warsaw.
Jadon Sancho forced in the opener after just 12 minutes and Noni Madueke made Chelsea's first-half dominance count with a precise finish from a second Enzo Fernandez assist.
Filip Jorgensen was called on to make sharp stops either side of the break but Nicolas Jackson, fresh from ending his 13-game Premier League goal drought at the weekend, profited from a mix-up at the back and then fired home his second to put Chelsea four clear.
Jackson had entered the action at half-time as one of four changes along with Cole Palmer and the England man will be frustrated his own wait for a goal has now stretched out to 18 matches. But that was one of few negatives for Chelsea in Sweden.
The loud home fans did finally have something to cheer when 18-year-old Isak Alemayehu headed in his first senior goal and Adam Stahl badly miscued from close range when Djurgarden had a chance to further cut the deficit.
But such was Maresca's satisfaction with his team's position he handed 16-year-old Reggie Walsh his debut. Incredibly the England youth player almost scored within 35 seconds of coming on, driving at the goalkeeper from the edge of the box.
Chelsea have a significant buffer to take into next week's return leg at Stamford Bridge and perhaps already have one eye on the title-decider in Poland later this month. Real Betis beat Fiorentina 2-1 in the other semi-final.
Before the second leg against Djurgarden, Chelsea host champions Liverpool on Sunday, live on Sky Sports, boosted by Forest's defeat on Thursday, which means the Blues stay fifth and on course for Champions League qualification.
What the manager said...
Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca:
"The performance for one hour, 70 minutes was good, then we dropped a little bit in the last 20 minutes because we were at 4-0, but it showed us we cannot allow ourselves to drop.
"Against Warsaw away we won 3-0 but then at home we struggled, so it's a good experience. For sure the next leg at home we're going to finish our job.
"We have the experience of Warsaw, we can learn from that.
"If you remember at home against Warsaw we started with Nicolas [Jackson] and Cole [Palmer] from the beginning and both struggled. Now you can see that Nico looks a different player because he scored against Everton. He has confidence again.
"The same thing is for Cole and hopefully we can have him scoring and getting assists again."
