Chelsea have learned their opposition for the UEFA Conference League play-off round. A draw that was so Byzantine that we don’t even understand it, let alone explain it, has ended up with the Blues knowing they will face the loser of the game between Portugal’s SC Braga and Switzerland’s Servette FC, in a two legged tie to see who makes it to the competition proper.....CONTINUE READING THE ARTICLE FROM THE SOURCE
It’s a far cry from just a couple of years ago, where we swanned into the Champions League group stages as the holders.
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A solid challenge for Enzo Maresca and his team
This is actually about as tough as the draw could have got for us. We weren’t able to play one of the seeded teams, and without doubt Braga were among the strongest sides we were able to draw. Servette aren’t terrible compared to some of the other sides that we could have draw, but we’re confident that the Portuguese side will beat them this week, leaving us to face the Swiss.
The first leg will be played at Stamford Bridge in just a couple of weeks, on the 22nd of August, and the return leg will be a week after that, on the 29th.
This means it lines up quite nicely for us. We will have played out all our friendlies, then likely taken a beating against Man City on the Premier League opening day on the 18th. This first leg then gives us a chance to build some midweek confidence before we roll on with our Premier League season.
The late return to training of players like Cole Palmer plus the bloated squad will mean there are plenty of players still keen for minutes at that point, so these two games give Maresca a nice chance as a sort of competitive preseason game.
