Chelsea didn’t ‘prepare right’ before Conference League defeat – Reece James

Chelsea captain Reece James has said his side “disrespected the competition” as they lost 2-1 to Polish side Legia Warsaw in the UEFA Conference League quarterfinal on Thursday.

The London side, who won the two-legged tie 4-2, will face Djurgården in the semifinal after winning their first leg comfortably 3-0.

However, Reece bemoaned his side’s poor preparation headed into the home leg of the tie.

“We had a 3-0 lead, maybe that played a part in taking our foot off the gas,” James said. “We are making progress but that was not progress. If anything it was a step back.

“Maybe we disrespected the competition. If you don’t prepare right, you will pay.

“It’s going to affect the mindset. It’s going to be in the back of people’s heads. I understand the frustration. Fans come to see excitement, we were frustrating to watch.”

Despite winning the first leg, Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca named a strong lineup with Cole Palmer, James and Jadon Sancho all starting.

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Goalkeeper Filip Jörgensen kept his spot in the XI from the first leg but his rash challenge gifted Warsaw a 10th minute penalty, which Tomas Pekhart converted to give Warsaw the lead.

Left-back Marc Cucurella drew Chelsea level near the half-hour mark. The Spain international is Chelsea’s top scorer of 2025 with Cole Palmer and Nicholas Jackson going 15 and 12 games without finding the back of the net respectively.

Boss Maresca agreed with James’ comments and said Chelsea did not respect Legia enough but praised the fans behaviour in the stands.

“I didn’t see any bad moments from the fans,” Maresca said. “I already said after the last game we need to engage them, so it’s what we have to do.

“We are not happy with the defeat, probably after winning the first leg 3-0 we tried to manage things a little bit, tried to avoid injury, rotate players with an important game on Sunday.”

Chelsea face west London rivals Fulham in the Premier League on Sunday as they look to secure Champions League qualification for next season.