Injured Marc Guiu leads Conference League charge from the sidelines

Only the much-adored Afimico Pululu outranks Marc Guiu in the Conference League's top scorers table. At just 19 years old, the forward had been making the most of his prominence in the tournament to make a mark in his first season at Chelsea, where he has seen limited minutes in other competitions.

However, a thigh injury has kept him out for two months, and he will not be available for the clash against Legia Warsaw. The striker, who has played 285 minutes in the Conference League, has scored six goals in six appearances.

It means a goal per game rate that exceeds that of Angola's Afimico Pululu, who has eight goals in ten games (852 minutes), and Celje's Armandas Kucys, who also has six goals, but in seven matches and 543 minutes.

Guiu opened his account with a goal in his team's 2-0 win over Noah, a team that suffered an 8-0 defeat on their visit to Stamford Bridge during the third group-stage match.

After starting on the bench for the first two games, he earned a starting spot against Heidenheim. Although he didn't score in Germany, he kept his place in the line-up for the Astana match, where he netted a brace. His upward trajectory continued in the final group match, when he scored a first-half hat-trick against Shamrock Rovers.

The former Barcelona player, who scored the winning goal against Athletic on his debut in 2023, has barely featured in the Premier League (70 minutes in three matches).

In the domestic cups, he played 90 minutes in his team's 5-0 FA Cup win over Morecambe and 14 minutes in the 5-0 EFL Cup victory over Barrow. Enzo Maresca had earmarked a place for him in the Conference, but a thigh injury sustained in early February kept him out of the last-16 clash, where Chelsea eliminated Copenhagen.