Chelsea delivers despite Prague's efforts

Chelsea have confirmed their status as favourties to win the Europa League yet again. The semifinal, which is now composed of two English teams, will see Chelsea go agaisnt Frankfurt's Entraicht. Sarri's men had an amazing first half, with three goals in under twenty minutes. Pedro's opener started an array of goals, and frenchman Olivier Giroud followed. However, the second half saw Chelsea's level drop considerably, which coicincided with Slavia Prague finally stepping up to the plate and delivering some wonderful goals. 

Pedro was the star of the match in the first half, as his first goal was class and intelligence personified. Chelse's second goal was unfortunate own goal Prague's Deli; but the goal would've happened anyways, as Pedro was right behind him to finish it off. Giroud's goal, at only the 17th minute, was a display of dominace by the Londoners who were playing on their home turf and made it seem like they were trying to show off.  Slavia Prague's defense was bad to say the least at this point, but Chelsea was truly at their best and made it look like they were not even trying; even with a Hazard that was not shining today. Indeed, the star Belgian player, who is rumoured to be confirmed as the newest Real Madrid signing, was not having a very good night, and was getting injured often until he was finally subbed. 

But that level was not kept up in the second half, and Chelsea inevitably lowered their quality. Pedro, who had an amazing game, scored in the 26th minute, and the game seemed like it would drag along for the second half, with a display of dominance and goals by Chelsea, if anything. However, a goal in the 50th minute by Petr Sevcik gave the Czechs a boost of confidence, which allowed them to win back some territory with a Chelsea that was slowly losing their posession. Another one three minutes later suddenly made it 4-3, a very different result than the one Chelsea expected, and an end to the show of strengh they had performed in the first half. Suddenly, the Czechs were only one goal away from equalising, and the fans in Stamford Bridge looked tense. Almost fourty minutes were still on the clock, and Chelsea players were looking a bit tired and frustrated at the score.

Sarri's reaction was, of course, to start making substitutions. Hazard came out for Willian, who was not having his best game tonight, and the last minutes of the clock were used to waste time by Chelsea players. Slavia Prague did have their chances, but the team was not able to provide the equaliser. Chelsea was, of course, the superior team, but the game, which could have easily been dominated by the blues, became much more interesting, and showed that football can always surprise us. Chelsea will be facing Entriacht Franfurkt in the semifinal, and is expected to reach the final too, which could potentially be an all English one.