By Ashton Cox
An improved second-half performance was enough for Chelsea to beat Copenhagen 1-0 on the night at Stamford Bridge and progress to the Quarter-Finals.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s finish early in the second half set Chelsea on their way.
The Danish side had started the better and put in lots of crosses into the penalty area but the Blues defence stood firm.
Enzo Maresca was forced to introduce both Cole Palmer and Marc Cucurella at half-time to gain control, which paid dividends as both made a positive impact.
The visitors had three chances inside the opening 12 minutes courtesy of Birger Meling’s crosses, with the third attempt needing an important intervention from Josh Acheampong to block Rodrigo Huescas’ close-range shot.
Chelsea finally started to create openings entering the final 10 minutes of the half, with Tyrique George and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall feeding both Pedro Neto and Jadon Sancho through on goal but both passes were cleared by the goalkeeper.
Pedro Neto took advantage of a lucky ball deflection to run at goal clear of the defence, yet his indecisiveness allowed the Copenhagen defence to recover and ease the Portuguese man off the ball.
Going a step worse than last week’s feat without a shot on target in the first-half, the Blues failed to have a single shot – for the first time under Enzo Maresca’s management.
Dewsbury-Hall gave the hosts an aggregate buffer in the 55th minute; The ex-Leicester midfielder picked up possession in a central area and beat two opponents before a fortunate break of the ball allowed him to slot home from 10 yards out.
Cole Palmer came close to ending his nine-game goal drought after a pass from the goal scorer allowed the English attacker to drive towards goal, but his shot flashed wide of the post.
Despite not affecting the scoreboard, Palmer’s impact was obvious to see as the Londoners looked far more comfortable in possession and started to look a threat in the middle of the park once he was brought on.
Some complacency caused a huge gap to form between the Blues’ defence and midfield which gave Robert the ability to shoot without pressure on the edge of the box but the Brazilian dragged his effort wide.
The Danish side wasted a huge chance to put pressure on Chelsea in the first minute of added-on time as Benoit Badiashile failed to clear his lines, leading to Huescas having a shot at goal from six yards out but the ball was blazed over the crossbar.