Exclusive: UEFA to investigate Chelsea over Stamford Bridge situation v Legia Warsaw
Chelsea are likely to face an investigation by UEFA into how the Legia Warsaw fans were able to use flares during their clash at Stamford Bridge, says Keith Hackett.
The former PGMOL chief and ex-FIFA official exclusively told Football Insider that the Blues could be “quizzed” as to why their inspections at the turnstiles apparently failed.
Enzo Maresca’s side breezed to a 3-0 win in the first-leg courtesy of goals from Noni Madueke and Tyrique George, who bagged his first senior goal for Chelsea.
Despite losing the return leg 2-1 after a performance which did nothing to please supporters, Chelsea advanced into the semi-final’s of the competition.
However Hackett believes the club will face questions from the governing body over events in the stands.
A night to forget for Enzo Maresca and Chelsea
In a night to forget for Maresca, the visitors went ahead on the night after a nice run and pass from Claude Gonçalves to find Tomáš Pekhart, who was brought down for a penalty. Pekhart stepped up and squeezed his effort underneath Filip Jorgensen.
After scoring the equaliser against Ipswich, Jadon Sancho continued his return to form, when he found Marc Cucurella in the area for a simple finish to level the scores.
Gonçalves was involved once more, as his effort fell into the path of Steve Kapuadi to glance it into the back of the net, and put his side back ahead.
The result saw Chelsea claim a 4-2 aggregate victory over Legia Warsaw and will now face either Djurgårdens or Rapid Wien in the next round.
Keith Hackett believes Chelsea will be ‘quizzed’ on the incident
After seeing the Legia Warsaw fans having flares at Stamford Bridge, Hackett said:
“I have no doubts that the use of these flares will be the subject of investigation by UEFA.
“Security is usually posted at the turnstiles to search for flares and other potential missiles.
“The home club will be quizzed why these inspections failed.”