Chelsea 4-3 Slavia Praha (5-3 agg): Pedro-inspired Blues reach semis in thriller

Chelsea beat Slavia Prague 4-3 in a thrilling encounter to book their place in the Europa League semi-finals despite an alarmingly complacent second-half performance at Stamford Bridge on Thursday.

Match Events

Slavia Prague put up a good fight against Chelsea, but Maurizio Sarri's men progressed in the Europa League after Thursday's 4-3 win.

Petr Sevcik scored a fine brace just after the break to make Chelsea nervous, but luckily for Maurizio Sarri, his team's stunning four-goal first-half performance ultimately gave Slavia too much to do and the Blues progressed 5-3 on aggregate.  

Chelsea appeared to be in complete control of the tie by the ninth minute, as Pedro's brilliant opener was followed by Simon Deli's comical own goal, before Olivier Giroud and the Spanish forward later added further gloss to the scoreline either side of Tomas Soucek's header.

Match Events

3' Hazard hacked down in less than two mins!

Hazard hacked down in less than two mins!

5' GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Slavia Praha (Pedro)

GOOALLLLL!!!! Chelsea have opened the scoring! After a lovely bit of play Giroud chipped a pass through the backline and into the path of Pedro who shot from a tight angle and saw his effort cross the line right before it made contact with a Slavia defender! Well worked goal from the hosts! Chelsea 1-0 Slavia (agg. 2-0)

9' OWN GOAL! Chelsea 2-0 Slavia Praha (Deli)

GOOOALLLL!!! CHELSEA DOUBLE THEIR LEAD! It wasn't nearly as elegant as the first as Pedro's shot into a seemingly empty net bounced off the upright, and then off the face of Deli before bouncing into the back of the net. 0/10 for style points, but all goals count the same! Chelsea 2-0 Slavia (agg. 3-0)

17' GOAL! Chelsea 3-0 Slavia Praha (Giroud)

GOOOALLLL!!!! CHELSEA ARE UP THREE! Kante found Pedro with a piercing through ball and the Spaniard delayed, pulling the 'keeper off his line before laying the ball off to Giroud who finished into an empty net. Slavia would have needed a miracle to get back into the match before this goal. Now they need more than that. Chelsea 3-0 Slavia (agg 4-0)

26' GOAL! Chelsea 3-1 Slavia Praha (Soucek)

GOOALLLL!!!!! SOUCEK GETS SLAVIA A GOAL BACK! After the corner from Deli's effort the ball wound up in the air and Soucek made sure his header found the back of the net! Can they get back into this one?! Chelsea 3-1 Slavia (agg. 4-1)

27' GOAL! Chelsea 4-1 Slavia Praha (Pedro)

GOOALLLL! CHELSEA SCORE AGAIN! Hazard and Emerson combine well down the left with the latter whipping in a low ball to Giroud whose inital shot is blocked, but the rebound fell to Pedro who put the ball past a flailing Kolar! Chelsea 4-1 Slavia (agg. 5-1)

51' GOAL! Chelsea 4-2 Slavia Praha (Sevcik)

Tomas Soucek with an assist there.

54' GOAL! Chelsea 4-3 Slavia Praha (Sevcik)

GOALLLL!!!!! SLAVIA GET ANOTHER BACK! It's Sevcik who scores a goal that's even better than his first! He found a pocket of space and smashed the ball with his right foot and buried it in the top-left corner! That's two wonder goals from the Slavia man to get them right back into this match! Chelsea 4-3 Slavia (agg. 5-3)

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