This year, Premier League giants Chelsea nearly flopped in the UEFA Europa League play-offs. At the crack of dawn on Friday (30), Swiss side Cervet squeezed into the promotion circle with a 1-2 defeat and a hard-fought 3-2 aggregate score over two rounds. The draw for the European Association was made on Friday evening, and Chelsea's "paper" opponents look "super dry", with the most worrying possibility being the long trek to the mountains for the away leg.
Chelsea were leading by two goals in the first round, and it seemed that victory was in the bag when Nygancu slotted home a penalty in the 14th minute. However, Servette scored two goals in a row to make it 1-2. Fortunately, they ended up struggling to make it into the top 36 with a 3-2 aggregate score. After the match, leader Mariska said, "After taking the lead, I missed three to four chances and my opponent came back again after getting into the climax. The field conditions for this match were less than ideal, with temperatures reaching 30 degrees. Nevertheless, I feel that our team deserves to advance to the first team."
As in the case of the UEFA Europa League, the 36 teams of the UEFA Confederation have been officially announced. The "Swiss League", as it is called, only requires each team to play 6 matches and each team will face 6 different levels of opponents. Chelsea are ranked in the first tier, and they will face well-known teams such as Ferentina and Betis. But it is also a great opportunity to travel to Belarus, Cyprus, Armenia, Slovenia, Moldova, Montenegro and more.
