Chelsea will have their Europa Conference League round-of-16 opponents confirmed on Friday, February 21.
The Blues are clear favourites to win the European trophy this year. They went undefeated in the league phase winning all six of their games where they scored an average of just over four goals per match. Even with Enzo Maresca rotating the team massively for these fixtures, it was light work for Chelsea.
Because the previous-Champions League winners finished in the top eight, Chelsea were able to skip past a further round of play-offs and go straight into the last-16 stage. The final-leg of the play-off matches will be conducted tomorrow with the Blues already knowing they will face one of four teams.
The potential teams that Chelsea could face were determined by UEFA through a bracketing system based of their original league positions.
As UEFA state: “For example, teams that finished first (Chelsea) and second in the league phase will face the winners of the knockout phase play-off ties involving the 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th-placed teams in the round of 16; teams that finish third or fourth will be drawn against the winners of the knockout phase play-off ties involving the 13th, 14th, 19th and 20th-placed teams and so on.”
(Image: UEFA)
This means Maresca’s squad will face one of these teams: Copenhagen, Real Betis, Gent or Heidenheim.
Heidenheim currently lead Copenhagen 2-1 as they head into the German teams home-leg. Real Betis are looking more comfortable going into their home-leg leading Gent by 3-0. Chelsea already faced Heidenheim in the league-phase where they beat them 2-0.
The Blues will have their opponent confirmed during the last-16 draw which will be held on Friday, February 21. It will be streamed live on TNT Sports 1 and the TNT Sports YouTube channel from 1pm UK time. The first leg in the round-of-16 ties will be played on March 6. The second-leg’s will be held the following week.
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