Marc Guiu of Chelsea scored a hat trick. © APA/afp / JUSTIN TALLIS

Chelsea secures top spot with gala performance

The final matchday of the Conference League group stage was once again exciting. Chelsea confidently secured first place in the table with an impressive performance, while Fiorentina and Rapid Vienna also made it to the round of 16.

19 December 2024

From: tu/apa

The final matchday of the Europa Conference League group stage brought some clear decisions. Chelsea FC beat Shamrock Rovers with an impressive 5:1 and showed a dominant performance. Marc Guiu became the player of the evening after laying the foundation for the clear victory with a hat-trick in the first half (23rd, 34th, 45th+3).

In the meantime, Shamrock managed to equalize with a goal from Poom (26th), but Chelsea hit back quickly and left no doubt about their superiority. Dewsbury-Hall (40th) and Marc Cucurella (58th) rounded off the result. The Blues finished the group stage of the Conference League undefeated as clear leaders.

Fiorentina played a draw but celebrated nonetheless. © ANSA / HUGO DELGADO

AC Florence had a much harder time against Vitória Guimarães and had to settle for a 1:1 draw. The Portuguese took the lead in the first half through Gustavo (33'), while Florence struggled to find solutions. It was only in the second half that the Italians managed to put more pressure on. Rolando Mandragora saved his team at least one point with a late goal in the 87th minute. The Viola thus finished the group phase in third place.

Rapid is also further

Rapid Vienna also made it into the top eight. The Austrians beat the highly rated FC Copenhagen 3-0 (1-0) in Vienna and made it directly into the round of 45 of the Football Conference League. Dion Beljo (2th+51) and youngster Nikolaus Wurmbrand (64st, XNUMXth) guaranteed this success.

On Friday (13 p.m.) a draw will be held to determine who will play against each other in the play-offs between the teams ranked 9th to 24th. The teams in question include 1. FC Heidenheim, Betis Sevilla, Copenhagen and Molde FK.

The results

FC Heidenheim – FC St. Gallen 1:1
APOEL Nicosia – FC Astana 1-1
Betis Sevilla – HJK Helsinki 1-0
Borac Banja Luka – Omonia Nicosia 0-0
Cercle Brugge – Istanbul Başakşehir 1:3
Djurgårdens IF – Legia Warsaw 3-1
Chelsea FC – Shamrock Rovers 5-0
FC Lugano – Pafos 2:2
Heart of Midlothian – FC Petrocub 2-2
Jagiellonia Bialystok – Olimpija Ljubljana 0-0
Larne FC – KAA Gent 1:0
LASK – Vikingur Reykjavík 1-1
Molde FK – FK Mladá Boleslav 4:3
NK Celje – The New Saints FC 3:2
Panathinaikos – Dinamo Minsk 4-0
SK Rapid – FC Copenhagen 3-0
TSC – FC Noah 4:3
Vitória Guimarães – Fiorentina 1-1