Sport | Football For so much of this season it didn’t look possible, but a rehabilitative end to the season from Chelsea means European football will return to Stamford Bridge next term. The Blues will have to wait to discover whether that means competing in the Europa League or instead the Europa Conference League. It will be the former unless Manchester United beat their city rivals in next weekend’s FA Cup final.
Mauricio Pochettino ’s side will not concern themselves with permutations outside of their control, though. It is, after all, by focusing on themselves that they have even got themselves into this position, ending the season a much more cohesive unit that they began it. This 2-1 win against Bournemouth on the final day of the season saw Chelsea finish the campaign with five wins from their last five matches, sensational form from a side who have so struggled for just that — form — in a turbulent last three years.
There was an emotional goodbye to Thiago Silva , who returns to Fluminense this summer, bringing to an end a four-year stay in West London that has included lifting the Champions League, the darkest months of Chelsea’s modern history, and everything in between. And yet while tifos and chants and the presence of the mid-May sunshine gave this match the unmistakable feeling of the 38th game of a 38-game season, it never lacked a competitive nature, as shown by the yellow card rightly brandished in Antoine Semenyo’s face when he had hurled Marc.