The partying in the stands was at odds with everything taking place on the artificial pitch. There was no irony about the celebrations from the noisy Djurgården fans when their team finally found the back of the net. The roar was deafening and the emotion was genuine. The only problem, though, was that Chelsea were already four goals to the good by the time Isak Alemayehu Mulugeta got the underdogs on the scoresheet in Stockholm.
It was not a great look for a competition that Uefa invented for the benefit of Europe’s smaller clubs. Chelsea against the 11th best team in Sweden for a place in the final of the Conference League? A show of the Premier League’s financial power was inevitable. Enzo Fernández, signed for £106.7m, decorated the contest with early assists for Jadon Sancho and Noni Madueke. Nicolas Jackson came off the bench and scored twice. Cole Palmer’s failure to end his goal drought was a sideshow.
“The performance for one hour, 70 minutes, was good,” Enzo Maresca said. “Then we dropped a little bit because we are 4-0 up. We cannot allow ourselves to drop because it was complicated. Against Legia Warsaw away we won 3-0 and then at home we struggled. It is a good experience. We are going to finish the job.”
There was something ludicrous about a European semi-final being contested by one team who have spent over £1bn in the space of three years and another whose record transfer stands at £1.5m. Maresca’s pre-match insistence that games are never decided by money alone felt hard to take seriously. Do Chelsea really have what it takes not to win this competition? Followers of Djurgården saw little chance of an upset. After all they were not expected to beat Rapid Vienna in the previous round and, to put things in context, this is already their best run in Europe since they reached the quarter-finals of the European Cup 70 years ago.
The sense was that Djurgården’s best hope lay in the dodgy pitch at the 3Arena acting as a leveller. Maresca, who was concerned about the surface causing injuries, took no chances. He rotated heavily and had many of his best players on the bench.
Chelsea still had too much quality. There were a few moments when the pitch disrupted their passing but dealing with a ferocious atmosphere proved less of a problem. Djurgården were soon being moved around and were behind after 13 minutes, their back four prised apart when Fernández found Sancho and the winger took chested the ball down before scoring with a shot that went in largely thanks to Marcus Danielson making a mess of his attempted goal-line clearance.
At least the home fans remained in high spirits. Djurgården, though, struggled to lay a glove on Chelsea during the first half. The visitors looked too quick, strong and smart. Tyrique George, the exciting 19-year-old attacker, was a handful after being deployed through the middle. Darting across the frontline, he was soon involved as Chelsea threatened to double their lead, only for Marc Cucurella to screw a shot wide from 20 yards.
It began to feel like a group game against the bottom seed. Reece James, stationed in midfield, dinked a ball over the top for Madueke, whose effort was turned over by Jacob Rinne. Another goal was a matter of time. Chelsea threatened whenever they picked up the pace. They led 2-0 when Fernández provided more incision in his role as No 10, teeing up Madueke to beat Rinne with a low shot in the 43rd minute.
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There was more good news for Chelsea when they heard that Nottingham Forest, rivals for one of England’s five Champions League spots, were losing at home to Brentford. As for Djurgården, their task was made even harder by Maresca bringing on Jackson, Palmer, Trevoh Chalobah and Moisés Caicedo at half-time. Jackson quickly made his presence felt: first when he capitalised on a defensive mix-up and tapped into an empty net in the 59th minute, then when he turned and bent a fine shot into the top corner six minutes later.
Djurgården, who created a few chances during the second half, kept going. They had joy down the left and pulled one back when Tobias Gulliksen crossed for Alemayehu to bounce a header past Filip Jorgensen. Chelsea still cruised to victory, though. It will not be until they reach the final and face either Real Betis or Fiorentina in Wroclaw later this month that they encounter anything remotely resembling true jeopardy.