Chelsea v Slavia Prague: quarter-final of the Europa League, return match – live! | Soccer

23 min Slavia was clean and tidy in his possession. Their defense, alas, was catastrophic.

21 min "About the evaluation of Kovacic by my cousin Francesco in the second minute," writes Angelo Puglisi. "I have no idea of ​​Kovacic's interest anymore. I do not remember the positive contribution he's made. "

20 min Kudela still leaves one on Hazard, who again suffers a lot. He wants to continue, and I'm sure he will, but Sarri would probably send it to him for his own protection.

18 min "Ah, yes," says Matt Dony. "Right, excuse me, notice, that sort of underscores what I was saying, if SPARTA came in and played extravagantly, it would have been better last night for the drama, as you were."

It's so easy. Kante slides a skew pbad to put Pedro at the goal. He could probably score himself, but instead, Giroud could slip into an empty 12-yard net.

16 min A good effort from Zmrhal, who breaks a ball that bounces a few meters from the far post.

11 min Deli could not do anything about this goal, and he could not do anything to stop him from being played again for LOL and giggles until the kingdom came.

It was manufactured by Hazard, who entered the area, beat Ngadeu and slid the ball to give Pedro a two-meter open goal. He managed to slap him on the post, which was a pretty ridiculous failure, but the ball bounced off Deli's face and into the net.

Chelsea doubles his lead with an absurd goal.

9 min "Hello," said Zdenek. "Re: Matt Dony's email, the team playing at Chelsea today is definitely not Sparta …"

Ach! I knew that someone would make this mistake tonight, even though I mistakenly badumed that would be the case. There is still time, I suppose.

8 min Hazard, who looks good now, returns Kudela to the left of the field before blocking the shot. This is the case with Hazard – if you want to kick him, you'd better put him on the bench, otherwise he will make his night work humiliate you.

It was a beautiful one-touch football exhibition. Pedro cut the battlefield from the right and played two duels, the first with Azpilicueta and the second with Giroud, before gently raising the ball above Kolar. It was delicious football.

Beautiful goal! Beautiful goal!

4 min Hazard is back, although he is moving with caution. He hopes that he will be able to get out of it.

3 min The danger is down and a lot of pain. Kudela was standing on the back of his Achilles – I do not know if it was deliberate, I guess it was – and Hazard struggles.

2 min "I would love Jorginho to replace Kovacic and bring Kante back to allow the Italian to make a pbad forward," says Francesco Puglisi. "He is underrated and is an excellent smuggler. Therefore, if Chelsea allows him to play balls in the fields, there will be chances for that to happen. In addition, N'Golo Kante should play a defensive role. His strength is when the OPPOSITION has the ball. "

I agree with most of this, but Sarri will never change his system. And, in all fairness, it has been very successful for most of my career.

Chelsea aims for first European semifinal in five years. The last time they did it, it was during the 2013-14 Champions League, when they were forcefully beaten by Diego Simeone's Atletico Madrid. . They also won this contest in 2012-13.

"So," said Matt Dony, "What could happen tonight that would finish in the lead last night? Sarri sneaking on the ground and typing in the void for a decision? Brand new risk? Sparta playing a 1-1-8 training? Jorginho comes to play and plays long balls forward? Literally, anything can happen!

That's why we love this game! However, I will tell you one thing: if there are five goals in the first 21 minutes tonight, I will disconnect and watch the darts. I am too old for this kind of "entertainment".

I do not really know why Loftus-Cheek is not even on the benchalthough I suspect he is resting for Sunday's game against Burnley. A kind of strange compliment.

Maurizio Sarri has chosen a solid starting lineup, although Ruben Loftus-Cheek is not even on the bench because of [REDACTED[REDACTED[SUPPRIMÉ[REDACTED].

Chelsea (4-3-3) Arrizabalaga; Azpilicueta, David Luiz, Christensen, Emerson; Kante, Kovacic, Barkley; Pedro, Giroud, Hazard.
Alternates: Caballero, Cahill, Zappacosta, Jorginho, Willian, Hudson-Odoi, Higuain.

Sparta Prague (4-2-3-1) Kolar; Kudela, Ngadeu, Deli, Boril; Soucek, Kral; Sevcik, Traoré, Zmrhal; Masopust.
Substitutes: Kovar, Olayinka, Zeleny, Van Buren, Stoch, Skoda, Frydrych.

Timekeeper / VAR messenger Damir Skomina.

Hello. The European quarterfinals come in all shapes, sizes and heart rates. After the coronary melodrama of last night at Etihad Stadium, things should – should – be quieter at Stamford Bridge tonight.

Although Slavia Prague is a helpful team with an outstanding record on the outside, the logic suggests that it will be a comfortable night for Chelsea. They lead 1-0 since the first leg in Prague, when Marcos Alonso's goal gave them a slightly flattering victory. Their home form has been excellent for most of the season.

They also have a genius named Eden Hazard, whose presence in this competition is similar to that of Benedict Cumberbatch who officially inaugurated a new TK Maxx on Luton High Street. If Chelsea has problems tonight, you expect him to produce a moment of Hazardry to bring them to a successful conclusion.

The winners will face Eintract Frankfurt or Joao Felix and 10 other players – known locally as Benfica – in the semifinals.

Start is at 20h