Djurgården vs Chelsea

Chelsea's quest to win the Conference League will continue when they travel to Sweden for the semi-final first leg against Djurgardens IF on Thursday.

The Premier League team defeated Legia Warsaw to reach the semi-finals, while the hosts advanced to the last four with an extra-time victory against Rapid Vienna.

Djurgarden has already created history in this season's Conference League, reaching a European semi-final for the first time in club history.

They finished fifth in the Conference League with 13 points from six matches before winning 3-1 on aggregate against Pafos in the last-16.

Djurgarden finally reached a European quarter-final after 69 years when they tied their contest 2-1 against Rapid Vienna in the away match after falling 1-0 at home.

Tobias Gulliksen sealed Djurgarden's spot in the semi-finals with his extra-time scoring goals which gave the team their best chance to become the first Swedish team to win a European trophy after 1987.

The side of Jani Honkavaara first secured a goalless draw against GAIS after their Austrian trip then sealed their latest win with a 1-0 final score against Oster on April 24.

Despite being heavy underdogs against Chelsea for their upcoming last-four clash Djurgarden holds hope to pull off an upset in the first leg match at home because they achieved six wins throughout their eight European home games this season.

Chelsea participates in their initial European semi-final since winning the Champions League under Thomas Tuchel in the 2020-21 season.

The last eight round of the UEFA competition proved challenging since their victory in 2020-21 but Durgarden achieved a success when playing against Legia Warsaw.

The football team led by Enzo Maresca achieved a 3-0 win in the first match against Poland but suffered a first-ever Conference League home defeat during the return match at Chelsea's Stamford Bridge where the 2-1 final score were not enough to change the outcome which let Chelsea reach their 15th UEFA semifinal competition.

Chelsea's path to capturing any trophy this season runs through the Conference League but they fight for Champions League spots for upcoming seasons since they occupy position number five by goal difference after prevailing in two successive Premier League matches.

Tyrique George and Pedro Neto scored late goals to propel Chelsea to a 2-1 victory against West London rivals Fulham, and Nicolas Jackson scored the winning goal in Saturday's 1-0 triumph over Everton, extending their Premier League undefeated streak to five games (W3, D2).

The Blues will continue their top-five push at home against Liverpool on Sunday, but first they must get through Thursday's first leg in Sweden, where Chelsea has avoided loss in each of their last four European tournament visits (W2, D2).

Chelsea may also be confident since they have won all five of their previous Conference League away games, scoring 14 goals and allowing only three.