Chelsea Earns First Win Under Maresca in Conference League

Chelsea secured their first win under new coach Enzo Maresca with a 2-0 victory over Servette in the first leg of their Conference League play-off round on Thursday.

At Stamford Bridge, Chelsea struggled to break down Servette in the first half. Christopher Nkunku scored the opening goal with a 50th-minute penalty, marking his fourth goal for the club.

Noni Madueke added to Chelsea's advantage by scoring from a pass by Enzo Fernandez, bringing Chelsea closer to securing a group-stage spot ahead of the second leg next week.

Late in the match, Tiemoko Ouattara of Servette nearly reduced the deficit with a deflected strike that hit the crossbar.

This win was a relief for Chelsea, who had lost 2-0 to Manchester City in Maresca's debut game over the weekend.

Chelsea is making their return to European competition after finishing sixth in the Premier League last season under Mauricio Pochettino.

In other matches, Greek club Panathinaikos suffered a 2-1 defeat to 10-man Lens, with Wesley Said scoring the decisive goal for the Ligue 1 side.

David de Gea, making his debut for Fiorentina, faced challenges as they drew 3-3 with Puskas Akademia.

Irish club St Patrick's kept their hopes of reaching the group stage alive with a 0-0 draw against Istanbul Basaksehir.

In the Europa League play-offs, Dutch giants Ajax defeated Jagiellonia 4-1 in Poland, with English forward Chuba Akpom scoring a hat-trick.

Besiktas drew 3-3 with Lugano in Switzerland after leading 3-1, while Scottish team Hearts lost 1-0 to Viktoria Plzen.