A hostile atmosphere awaits Chelsea as we take on Legia Warsaw at their 95-year-old home in the heart of the Polish capital.

The first leg of our Conference League quarter-final tie was scheduled to take place in London but was switched because of a city clash with Tottenham Hotspur, who host Eintracht Frankfurt in the Europa League tomorrow evening.

Tomorrow's contest represents the Blues’ first competitive fixture in Poland – and Legia's Conference League journey began way back in July against Caernarfon Town of Wales. They are aiming to progress from their first European quarter-final for 29 years to their third ever semi-final.

Fifth in the Ekstraklasa, Legia won their only domestic league game since the winter break on Sunday, but have lost three of their last four matches in Europe despite overcoming Molde 4-3 in the Round of 16.

The Blues consolidated fourth spot in the Premier League with a fourth consecutive win at the Bridge against Spurs, and then a draw at Brentford on Sunday. Ipswich Town are the visitors to west London this weekend.

Thus far, we have won each of our four away games in the competition proper, netting twice or more on each occasion, most recently 2-1 at Copenhagen in the Round of 16.

This is Chelsea’s 21st appearance in the last eight of a European competition, and the winners of this tie will play Djurgardens or Rapid Wien – runners-up in the Swedish and Austrian cups respectively – for a place in next month's final.

Chelsea team news

Blues head coach Enzo Maresca confirmed in his pre-match press conference that Filip Jorgensen will start in goal for the Blues against Legia.

‘It will be Filip [who plays],' said Maresca. 'Robert (Sanchez), since we started, is the number one, but part of the season we decided to give him some games off. Now he is back, he is ok, so we continue in the same way.’

Maresca also highlighted that Marc Guiu is making progress in his recovery from injury, with the Chelsea boss hopeful the young forward will be available for selection before the end of the season.

He also provided an update on Wesley Fofana, who underwent hamstring surgery over the weekend, and Romeo Lavia, who has missed our last two matches.

He said: ‘Unfortunately, Wes will be out for the rest of the season. Hopefully we can get Romeo very soon. I don’t know if for the next game, but he looks quite good in terms of being back soon. We need to support both, and then at the end of the season we will see.’

The history

Chelsea have never met Legia or any other Polish team in a competitive setting, but this is the fifth time the hosts will have faced English opposition.

Manchester United managed a 4-2 aggregate win in the 1990/91 Cup Winners’ Cup semi-finals; Blackburn beat them 1-0 in the 1995/96 Champions League; a pre-Maresca Leicester City lost 1-0 in Warsaw but won 3-1 at home in the 2021/22 Europa League group stage.

Most recently, Aston Villa were beaten 3-2 in Poland in last season’s Conference League group stage but won 2-1 at Villa Park.

In late May 1936, the Blues’ post-season tour included friendlies at Wisla Krakow (a 1-0 defeat) and, on 23 May at Legia’s stadium, a 2-0 victory against Poland’s Olympic team – who would beat Team GB 5-4 in that summer's controversial Games in Berlin.

It was the first time an English club had ever played in Poland, earning the club the nickname ‘Chelski’ – coined by theFootball Star.

The full story behind that trip can be read here.

Conference League knockout stage regulations

The Video Assistant Referee system is used in this competition. The ‘away goals rule’ has not applied in UEFA competitions since 2021.

A player receiving three cautions will serve a one-match suspension. All yellow cards expire on completion of the quarter-finals and are not carried into the semi-finals. No Chelsea player is on the two-booking tightrope ahead of tomorrow's game.

The final is scheduled for Wednesday 28 May 2025 at the Wroclaw Stadium in Wroclaw, Poland. The winners qualify for the league stage of the 2025/26 UEFA Europa League.

Know this…

We have won 11 of our previous 14 European ties to have been played over two legs.

Chelsea have won each of our eight games in this season’s Conference League. The three previous campaigns in which we claimed more victories ended with us lifting the trophy: 2012/13 Europa League (nine wins), 2018/19 Europa League (12 wins), 2020/21 Champions League (nine wins)

The Blues top Opta’s Conference League stats for goals scored (29), percentage of shots on target (63.2%), shot conversion rate (25.4%), pass completion (91.2%), and fewest goals conceded (6).

We have averaged 3.6 goals per game in this competition so far – the best return for any side in UEFA action this season.

Fifth place in the Premier League is increasingly likely to be a Champions League-qualifying position for next season. After clubs including Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham progressed in Europe, England leads the way with a coefficient of 24.250, which is closing in on third-placed Italy’s highest possible tally of 24.437.

On 11 April 1970, Chelsea and Leeds became the first FA Cup finalists since 1912 to play to a draw. No one had ever done so at Wembley, and the Blues had Peter Houseman and Ian Hutchinson to thank for the equalisers in the 2-2 result.