Chelsea Triumph in European Comeback, Enzo Maresca Secures Debut Victory

Chelsea claimed their first win under new manager Enzo Maresca as they defeated Servette 2-0 in the first leg of their Conference League play-off round on Thursday. The home team struggled to make a breakthrough in the first half at Stamford Bridge, but Christopher Nkunku broke the deadlock with a penalty in the 50th minute, marking his fourth goal for the club. Marc Guiu missed a golden opportunity to extend Chelsea's lead shortly after, but Noni Madueke sealed the victory with a goal from Enzo Fernandez's assist. Servette almost managed a late consolation goal when Tiemoko Ouattara's deflected shot hit the crossbar. Chelsea are now in a strong position to secure a spot in the group stage ahead of the second leg next week.

It was a welcome win for Chelsea after suffering a 2-0 loss in Maresca's debut game against Manchester City at the weekend.

The Blues are making their return to European competition after finishing sixth in the Premier League last season under Mauricio Pochettino.

"We are learning how to manage the game," said Maresca, who led Leicester to promotion to the Premier League last season.

"It was important to win the game with nine changes. There were many good things."

But there was a scare for Chelsea, as key player Cole Palmer went down the dug-out holding the back of his leg at full-time after coming on as a second-half substitute.

"Cole felt something but he looks fine. Hopefully it is no problem and he can be available for Sunday's game (against Wolves)," Maresca said.

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Elsewhere, Greek club Panathinaikos suffered a 2-1 defeat at 10-man Lens in their first leg, with Wesley Said scoring what proved to be the winner for the Ligue 1 side.

Former Spain and Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea endured a difficult debut as Fiorentina were held to a 3-3 home draw by Hungarians Puskas Akademia.

Irish club St Patrick's kept their hopes of qualifying for the group stage of a European tournament for the first time alive, drawing 0-0 with Istanbul Basaksehir.

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

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Besiktas blew a 3-1 lead to draw 3-3 with Lugano in Switzerland, while Scottish outfit Hearts lost 1-0 at Viktoria Plzen.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)