Chelsea reach Conference League final with 5-1 aggregate win
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Chelsea's Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall celebrates scoring their winner with Jadon Sancho during their 1-0 triumph over Djurgarden at Stamford Bridge on May 8. It ensured a 5-1 aggregate win in the Conference League semi-finals and a spot in the final against Real Betis.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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LONDON – Favourites Chelsea, fielding a second-string team, cantered into the Europa Conference League final with a routine 1-0 second-leg win over Swedish side Djurgarden on May 8 for a 5-1 aggregate victory.
Their 38th-minute goal came from one of the more senior players on the pitch, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, 26, who received a neat pass from Tyrique George, rounded two defenders and fired home with his left foot.
Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca, in his first season in charge, said winning a third European club competition could be the start of better things.
He said: “It is very important because we can give the chance to this club and these fans to be the first club in Europe to win the three (current Uefa) competitions.”
Chelsea, having won the Champions League and Europa League twice, will face a stiff challenge from Spain’s Real Betis in their bid to win a first Conference League title. Betis drew 2-2 at Fiorentina in extra time to progress 4-3 on aggregate to the May 28 final in Wroclaw, Poland.
Maresca knows Betis coach Manuel Pellegrini well, having played under the Chilean at Malaga and worked with him in management at West Ham United.
“I was his assistant coach for two years, so I know how he thinks towards players,” the Italian said. “Personally, I tried to learn a lot from him.”
With Chelsea 4-1 up from the first leg and involved in the Premier League scrap for Champions League spots, Maresca fielded a youthful team, including giving a first start to forward Reggie Walsh, 16.
The result was a less-than-fluent display, but the gulf in quality was evident and the Blues never lost control of the game.
Djurgarden’s vocal travelling support kept up their constant chanting but were rewarded with few chances, the best coming in the 71st minute when Chelsea goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen tipped a Daniel Stensson shot over the bar.
Walsh made his senior debut for the club he joined aged seven in the first leg in Stockholm. He was joined in the starting line-up by 19-year-old George, while Genesis Antwi and Shumaira Mheuka, both 17, came on in the second half.
Off the pitch, Chelsea have quietly concluded a two-year investigation into allegations of a toxic workplace culture without disclosing the findings, according to three people with direct knowledge of the review.
The investigation, conducted by an outside lawyer, was prompted by accounts of workplace bullying in the marketing department that The New York Times reported in 2022, shortly after the club were sold.
The dysfunction and pressure in the office came under heightened scrutiny after the suicide of a well-liked former executive, Richard Bignell.
In a letter sent to people who were questioned in the inquiry, Chelsea hinted that investigators had discovered problems, but the club provided no details and acknowledged no wrongdoing. REUTERS, NYTIMES
