Goals from Jadon Sancho and Noni Madueke and a brace from Nicolas Jackson gave Chelsea a comfortable 4-1 win over Swedish side Djurgården on a tricky artificial pitch in the first leg of their Conference League semifinal on Thursday.
Sancho opened the scoring in the 12th minute, taking possession just outside the six-yard box before cutting inside to shoot, and defender Marcus Danielsson’s attempt to clear only helped the ball into the back of the net, briefly silencing the passionate home crowd.
Madueke doubled their lead before the break with a controlled first-time finish, stroking home a pass from Enzo Fernández, with the home side’s Tokmac Nguen going close in first-half stoppage time with a rare effort on target for Djurgården.
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With the game under control and one eye on Sunday’s Premier League game against Liverpool, Enzo Maresca made four changes at the break, and substitute Jackson made the most of a defensive mix-up to score in the 59th minute.
Another defensive error led to Jackson’s second goal a few minutes later, but the home side were given a sliver of hope when Isak Alemayehu Mulugeta scored with a downward header that bounced up into the top corner in the 68th minute.
The home side almost reduced the deficit further in the 79th minute, but Adam Stahl skied the ball over the bar with the goal at his mercy to leave Chelsea firmly in control of the tie ahead of next week’s second leg in London, with the final set to take place in Wroclaw, Poland, on May 28.
“Very good performance, the most important thing is that we won. It is one step forward, and we hope to reach the final … we won the game and the manager is happy and we are happy,” goal-scorer Jackson told broadcaster TNT.