A Pedro brace helped Chelsea ride out a worrying wobble to see off Slavia Prague 4-3 and reach the Europa League semi-finals – and the triumph saw them set an impressive new record.
The Blues won their quarter-final 5-3 on aggregate, but squandered a 3-0 lead in Thursday’s second leg at Stamford Bridge.
Pedro opened the scoring after only five minutes and, after Simon Deli’s own goal, the Spaniard teed up Europa League top-scorer Olivier Giroud for his 10th of the competition.
Tomas Soucek headed home unmarked for Slavia before the break, only for Pedro to score the fifth goal of the match before the half-hour mark.
(Image: Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
After the interval Petr Sevcik blasted home two long-range strikes in three minutes to give Slavia hope of an unlikely comeback, but there was to be no Chelsea collapse.
And in winning, the Stamford Bridge club became the first English side to win 11 major European games in a single season, boasting a near-perfect record.
They’ve won all but one of their Europa League encounters this season, drawing 2-2 with Vidi in their final group stage having already booked their knockout spot.
The Blues also became just the second Premier League team after Manchester City to hit 100 goals in all competitions this term.
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(Image: WILL OLIVER/EPA-EFE/REX)
After the match, Blues boss Maurizio Sarri admitted his side made life difficult for themselves following their second-half collaspe.
“We played very well in the first half,” said Sarri. “But as usual in the last two months we started very badly in the second half.
“We need a solution. In the last 10 matches we started like in this match, it’s a big problem.
“Probably at the end of the first half we thought we had qualified, but against this opponent it was not true. I have never seen something like these opponents physically, so it was clear the second half could be difficult for us.
(Image: Michael Zemanek/BPI/REX)
“But we did something wrong in the first 10 minutes of the second half.
“At half-time I told them to start with the same application as they started the first, but we didn’t do it. It’s not easy to understand.
“I could try without going in the dressing room at half-time if I could solve the problem.”
