Legia Warszawa vs Chelsea facts

Chelsea's first visit to Poland takes them to Legia Warszawa in the first leg of their UEFA Conference League quarter-final.

The Polish side overturned a first-leg defeat by Molde in the round of 16 to reach the last eight of a European competition for the first time in 29 years, while Chelsea have won all eight of their fixtures since Matchday 1 of the Conference League, overcoming Copenhagen in the last round.

This is the first meeting between the two sides in UEFA competition.

Form guide

Legia Warszawa

Record vs English clubs: W3 D2 L3 F9 A11
Home record vs English clubs: W3 D0 L1

Legia faced English opposition in last season's group stage where they were drawn alongside Aston Villa, winning 3-2 at home in the opening game before going down 2-1 at Villa Park on Matchday 5.

The Polish side's only previous UEFA knockout tie against an English team was a 2-4 aggregate defeat against Manchester United in the 1990/91 European Cup Winners' Cup semi-final (1-3 h, 1-1 a).

They have won their last three European home games against teams from England.

Legia finished seventh in the league phase (W4 L2), leading them to a round of 16 tie against Norwegian side Molde. A 3-2 defeat in the first leg was overturned in Warsaw with the home side securing a 2-0 victory after extra time.

This is Legia's first European quarter-final since the 1995/96 UEFA Champions League, when they were defeated 0-3 on aggregate by Panathinaikos (0-0 h, 0-3 a). They have appeared in five previous UEFA quarter-finals and won two, a 3-1 aggregate victory against Galatasaray in the 1969/70 European Cup and a 3-2 success on aggregate against Sampdoria in the 1990/91 Cup Winners' Cup.

The Legionaries have won ten of their 14 European matches this season (D1 L3), keeping a clean sheet in nine of those 14 games. They have won four of their last five at home without conceding.

Japanese international Ryoya Morishita has scored in three of his last four Conference League appearances.

Chelsea

This is Chelsea's first game in UEFA competition against a team from Poland.

The Blues won six out of six of their league phase matches to finish top, four points clear of any other team and with a record of 26 goals scored and just five conceded.

In the round of 16 they took on Danish side Copenhagen. Reece James and Enzo Fernández struck to give them a 2-1 victory in the away first leg, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall scoring the only goal at Stamford Bridge.

This is Chelsea's 19th UEFA quarter-final and their first in the Conference League. They have won 14 of their previous 18 but lost of the last two, both in the Champions League against Real Madrid, in 2021/22 (4-5 agg) and 2022/23 (0-4).

The west London side have won 11 of their last 14 two-legged European ties.

Enzo Maresca's team have won their last four away Conference League games but did lose 2-1 to Servette in the second leg of their qualifying play-off in August.

Marc Guiu has scored five goals in his last two appearances in the Conference League, including a hat-trick in his last appearance against Shamrock Rovers.

Links and trivia

Legia's Polish midfielder Maxi Oyedele came through the youth ranks at Manchester United, and while he never made a senior appearance, was at the club at the same time as Chelsea's Jadon Sancho.

Have also played in England:
Rúben Vinagre (Wolves 2017–20, Everton 2022 loan, Hull City 2023 loan)
Bartosz Kapustka (Leicester 2016–20)
Paweł Wszołek (QPR 2017–19)
Tomáš Pekhart (Tottenham 2006–09, Southampton 2008 loan)
Juergen Elitim (Watford 2019–23)

Have played together:
Rúben Vinagre & Pedro Neto (Wolves 2019/20)

International team-mates:
Rúben Vinagre & Pedro Neto (Portugal Under-21)