Past and present Chelsea players were in attendance to watch Chelsea's under-18 side be knocked out of the UEFA Youth League by Estonian side Flora Tallinn.
The Blues went into the second leg today at Cobham, after which the draw was announced. They were expected to progress with ease, but losing 3-2 today, and after drawing the first leg last week 2-2, meant that last season's Under 18 Premier League champion crashed out.
Mathis Eboue had given Chelsea the lead after just 94 seconds, but the hosts were to be pegged back through Flora's first team star man Sander Almaa equalised on the break, making it his third across the two legs after scoring both of Flora Tallinn's goals last week.
Ibrahim Rabbaj, nicknamed "The Moroccan Messi", put the Blues back in front, two minutes after coming off the bench, getting on the end of an Eboue cross, but yet again, Chelsea were to be pegged back after Marten Kukkonen levelled nine minutes later
Some of Flora's team had first-team experience, like Almaa and Denis Zotov, who won the decisive penalty after Tayo Subuloye fouled the 14-year-old, giving Almaa the chance to put his side through and create a seismic upset.
Much like the Chelsea first team, discipline had been a problem for Harry Hudson's side across the two legs, giving away two penalties. After being reduced to nine men last week, and after Chelsea's horrid 2025/26 season, the under-18s side have fallen at the first hurdle and failed to make it to the knockout rounds of the revamped competition.
Although Flora had players playing today who had previously made appearances for their senior team, what makes today's result even more head-scratching is that Chelsea also had players such as Reggie Watson and Mahdi Nicoll-Jazuli named in their starting 11, who this season have made their Chelsea first-team debut under Xabi Alonso, who watched on today.
In the restructured UEFA Youth League, Under-19 teams from all 36 clubs in the senior Champions League compete in a league format, with the top 22 youth sides going through to the knockout stages. Chelsea, as winners of the Premier League Under-18 title last season, went straight into the second round, but the former two time champions fell to the Estonian side.
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