It may be just UEFA’s third rate competition, and Chelsea may be quite far removed from our relatively recent successes, but this is being billed as an historic occasion for Servette, one “that the youngest will tell their grandchildren about”, as per their official website, which also urges that they must believe in the impossible in order to overcome their 2-0 first-leg deficit.
That may be a bit dramatic, and would be undoubtedly shocking, but perhaps not so impossible. The first leg was a closely fought affair for large stretches and we were at times quite lucky to maintain a two-goal advantage for this second leg. And they’ve had a full week to rest up, recover, and refocus. As with all underdogs, they have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
A place in the group stage is on the line.
Date / Time: Thursday, August 29, 19.30 BST; 2:30pm EDT; 12am IST (next day)
Venue: Stade de Genève, Geneva, Switzerland
Referee: Marco Di Bello (on pitch); Gianluca Aureliano (VAR)
Forecast: hot!
On TV: RTS 2 (Switzerland); none (elsewhere)
Streaming: Chelsea TV (£4.99/$6.49)
Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images
Servette team news: As mentioned above, Servette did not have a game this weekend, so they will be fully rested and ready to tackle the “impossible”. Or not so impossible?
“I never assume that matches are impossible to win. You always have to believe in your chances, believe in your possibilities, in football as in life.”
-Thomas Häberli; source: Servette FC
It will be a sold out stadium and a raucous atmosphere and a cauldron of noise, especially if things start going their way at any point.
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25594089/2167158714.jpg)
Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images
Chelsea team news: Boosted by the weekend’s tremendous 6-2 win over Wolves, Chelsea come in with some good momentum and some happy vibes, though we’ve left Pedro Neto and Malo Gusto at home for “workload management” and Roméo Lavia and Reece James will miss out through hamstring injuries. It would also appear that João Félix will not be eligible to play, though there’s been no official word either way.
Should Chelsea progress, a spot in the group stage of the UEFA Conference League awaits, with six games guaranteed before the knockout rounds in the new year. While we could certainly do without the added workload, we could also very much do with pursuing a new trophy.
Previously: Goals from Christopher Nkunku and an in-form Noni Madueke have us coming in with a 2-0 advantage from the first leg.