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Tyrique George celebrates scoring Chelsea’s first goal - PA/Rafal Oleksiewicz
07:05 PM BST
59 mins: Legia Warsaw 0 Chelsea 2
Legia get a half-chance as Augustinyak risest highest to meet a corner but he can only send it wide.
07:03 PM BST
58 mins: Legia Warsaw 0 Chelsea 2
Subs:
Marc Cucurella IN
Reece James OUT
07:02 PM BST
57 mins: Legia Warsaw 0 Chelsea 2
GOAAALLL!
Noni Madueke scores Chelsea’s second.
Tobiasz cedes possession with a poor goal-kick, Jadon Sancho takes the ball and runs with it teeing up Madueke to wrong-foot the keeper with a tidy finish
06:57 PM BST
53 mins: Legia Warsaw 0 Chelsea 1
Subs:
Patryk Kun IN
Pawel Wszolek OUT
06:53 PM BST
49 mins: Legia Warsaw 0 Chelsea 1
GOAAALLL! Tyrique George breaks the deadlock.
Radovan Pankov can only head a clearance as far as James, who attempts a low shot from distance. Tobiasz gets down to save but George is first to pounce on the rebound and roll it home for his first senior goal for Chelsea.
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Chelsea’s Tyrique George wheels away after breaking the deadlock with his first Chelsea goal - PA/Rafal Oleksiewicz
The half is only four minutes old but Chelsea have been playing with far greater intent and have been rewarded for their directness
06:52 PM BST
48 mins: Legia Warsaw 0 Chelsea 0
Ooohhh!
And another chance goes begging for Dewsbury-Hall. James floats over an inviting cross from the left and Dewsbury-Hall tries to turn his neck and get some power on his header but he can only direct it wide of the near post.
06:50 PM BST
46 mins: Legia Warsaw 0 Chelsea 0
Subs:
Levi Colwill ON
Tosin Adoriobioyo
Noni Madueke ON
Cole Palmer
Well, well, well. Palmer has been given the hook at half-time in favour of Noni Madueke.
It;s not clear whether it’s an injury or tactical but one thing’s fors ure, Palmer is not having a happy time of it these last few weeks. He was not playing at all well in the first half.
06:34 PM BST
HT: Legia Warsaw 0 Chelsea 0
Peep!!!
And so ends an eminently forgettable first half.
Dewsbury-Hall has had Chelsea’s two best chances but in the main Legia have been untroubled.
Sancho has been disappointingly lacking in impact.
Maresca needs to change things at half-time as there is a lack of creativity and cutting edge in this side this evening.
06:33 PM BST
45+1: Legia Warsaw 0 Chelsea 0
A rare well-worked move by Chelsea down the left results in a chance for Dewsbury-Hall.
Nkunku lofts an inviting cross into the area but the midfielder can only glance it wide.
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Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall heads wide on the stroke of half-time - Reuters/Andrew Boyers
06:31 PM BST
44 mins: Legia Warsaw 0 Chelsea 0
Palmer works his way into the area again but his pass is intercepted again.
Chelsea are being frustrated at every turn by this well-drilled defence, but their creativity has been found wanting.
06:28 PM BST
41 mins: Legia Warsaw 0 Chelsea 0
Palmer is not quite on his game this evening. His passes seem to be landing just behind his intended target and he is not getting the rub of the green either. He was tripped on the edge of the area there but the referee waved play on.
06:24 PM BST
38 mins: Legia Warsaw 0 Chelsea 0
More good work by Gusto and James decides to try one from range. The Blues’ captain’s shot curls just wide, though.
06:23 PM BST
36 mins: Legia Warsaw 0 Chelsea 0
Chelsea are enjoying a spell of sustained pressure and come close again. Gusto’s cross is headed back across the area by Badiashile and Nkonku is crowded out as he lunges for the ball, landing on Augustinyak, who has been flattened by that challenge.
06:21 PM BST
33 mins: Legia Warsaw 0 Chelsea 0
Chelsea are toiling without much. Sancho is looking lively down the right flank but, apart from winning corners, they are struggling to pick a way through their well-organised hosts.
And no sooner do I write those words than Chelsea almost score. Palmer finds space for shot but his effort is blocked. The rebound falls to Dewsbury-Hall who curls a shot towards the far corner only for Tobiasz to tip wide. Excellent save.
06:15 PM BST
29 mins: Legia Warsaw 0 Chelsea 0
James sends over another deep corner which Tosin Adarabioyo does well to reach ahead of two defenders. He can’t quite apply the necessary power though and Kacper Tobiasz is there.
06:13 PM BST
26 mins: Legia Warsaw 0 Chelsea 0
Oyedele plays a fantastic pass to Ryoya Morishita, who cuts in from the left flank and spots the chance to go for a glorious curler from 25 yards out. Unfortunately he gets it all wrong, much to the chagrin of the two forwards in the area that he ignored.
06:10 PM BST
22 mins: Legia Warsaw 0 Chelsea 0
Chelsea send over another corner but nothing comes of it.
Tyrique George tries to beat Ruben Vinagre down the left flank but the Portuguese does well to win the goal kick.
06:08 PM BST
18 mins: Legia Warsaw 0 Chelsea 0
The Marshall Jozef Pilsudski Stadium is still bouncing as the unrelenting home supporters continue drumming and singing.
The air is still thick with flare smoke, lending a real European night feel of old to the atmosphere although questions might be asked about how the flares got into the ground in the first place.
06:03 PM BST
15 mins: Legia Warsaw 0 Chelsea 0
After a couple of meaty challenges in midfield, Legia launch a promising attack, but the pass by Kacper Chodyna is just behind Maximillian Oyedele and Chelsea break quickly. Cole Palmer is spoilt for choice as he approaches the Legia penalty area, but instead of passing to Reto Gusto, who is free to his left, he plays a bad pass to Jadon Sancho. That pass is also behind the winger, who retrieves the ball and then shoots well-well wide from 25 yards out.
06:00 PM BST
12 mins: Legia Warsaw 0 Chelsea 0
Tyrique George, one of two teenagers in the Chelsea side is showing promise on the left flank, from where he sends over an inviting cross, but it just eludes Nkunku. The visitors are starting to dominate the midfield.
05:56 PM BST
9 mins: Legia Warsaw 0 Chelsea 0
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall gets free down the right channel and gets a cross over, which is cleared for Chelsea’s first corner.
Reece James swings over deep ball to the far post, which Legia fail to clear, the ball bounces around Benoit Badiashile but his shot is blocked and doesn’t quite fall kindly enough for Jadon Sancho.
05:53 PM BST
6 mins: Legia Warsaw 0 Chelsea 0
The crowd are deafeningly loud, and living up to their reputation for being among the most boisterous in the continent.
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Welcome to Warsaw - PA/Rafal Oleksiewicz
The hosts are playing some tidy football and looking to play a possession game, it seems.
05:50 PM BST
3 mins: Legia Warsaw 0 Chelsea 0
Early chance for Warsaw who have started well to win two early corners.
From the second Rafal Augustyniak’s header is blocked by the rebound falls to Luquinhas whose attempted curler flies high into the smoky Warsaw sky.
05:48 PM BST
1 min: Legia Warsaw 0 Chelsea 0
And they’re off.
And the smoke from the flares has made seeing the ball – and the players – nigh-on impossible. Good luck to the commentators.
05:44 PM BST
Legia’s twelfth man
Legia Warsaw are traditionally the biggest side and most famous side in Poland. They boast an unrivalled 15 Ekstraklasa titles and 20 Polish Cup wins. But they are no longer the force they once were and they have not won the league for four years.
Chelsea can expect a hostile reception, though, because Legia have an enormous and vociferous fanbase. Their twelfth man has helped them on their circuitous journey to the last-eight stage, which has involved three qualifying rounds, finishing seventh in the league phase and an extra-time win over Molde.
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Legia Warsaw players during the warm up before the match - Reuters/Andrew Boyers
One familiar face in the Legia defence is Ruben Vinagre, who played in the Premier League with Wolves and Everton. He is the Polish top-flight’s record signing at €2.5m.
05:21 PM BST
Here are the line-ups
Chelsea
Chelsea have made five changes to the side that drew 0-0 with Brentford at the weekend.
Cole Palmer returns to the side while Filip Jorgensen dons the gloves and Tyrique George, Josh Acheampong and Benoît Badisahile come into the defence. Nkunku starts up front as he did on Sunday before coming off at half-time for Jackson.
Chelsea: Jorgensen; Acheampong, Adorabioyo, Badishile, Gusto; James, Dewsbury-Hall; George, Palmer, Sancho, Nkunku
Subs: Sanchez, Cucurella, Colwill, Pedro Neto, Fernandez, Madueke, Jackson, Chalobah, Caicedo, Amougou, Rak-Sakyi, Mheuka
Legia Warsaw
The man to watch out for from th opposition is Luquinhas. The Brazilian striker has scored four goals in his last six appearances in all competitions, and was twice on target in Legia’s 2-1 away win over Gornik Zabrze.
Legia: Tobiasz; Ruben Vinagre, Kapuadi, Pankov, Wszolek; Elitim, Augusyniak, Oyedele; Luquinhas, Morishita, Chodyna
Subs: Mendes, Kovacecic, Goncalves, Pekhart, Pekhart, Bichakhchyan, Kun, Barcia, Mozie, Olewinski, Szczepaniak
05:14 PM BST
Legia’s struggles
Legia Warsaw finished seventh during the league phase and reached the last eight by beating Norwegian side Molde in the last round. They are not, however, pulling up any trees in the Polish Ekstraklasa, where they lie fifth.
The match kicks off at 5.45pm and you can catch all the build up and team news right here.
05:12 PM BST
Winning run
Not that Enzo Maresca is taking tonight’s match lightly. Chelsea’s head coach made a raft of changes last weekend, electing to rest Cole Palmer, Marc Cucurella, Levi Colwill, Pedro Neto and Nicolas Jackson for their goalless draw with Brentford.
Perhaps he wants to set a record in this competition by winning every match – a feat they are on course to do having won all eight so far and scoring 29 goals in the process.
Six of those goals have come from the competition’s joint-top scorer Marc Guiu, but the Spaniard is out with a hamstring injury and so will most likely be replaced up top by Christopher Nkunku, who is just one goal behind Guiu with five Conference League goals. Also missing for the Blues are Romeo Lavia and Wesley Fofana so it will be interesting to see how Maresca lines his side up.
05:11 PM BST
Countdown to kick-off
Welcome to this evening’s live coverage of Chelsea’s magical mystery tour of Europe as Enzo Maresca’s side visit Legia Warsaw in the quarter-final first leg of the Uefa Conference League.
It is a far cry from Porto 2021 or even Munich 2012 but those higher aspirations are for another day. Right now they have the chance to complete their European set by winning the one trophy that has so far eluded them – in it’s three-year existence...
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