What Cole Palmer did to embarrass Chelsea teammate as worrying Benoit Badiashile trend continues

Chelsea did it. They stumbled across the line, but they just managed to do it. If they go on to win the Conference League, that second-leg against Servette will be looked back at.

The Blues are through to the Conference League's newly-named 'league phase', with the draw taking place later today, after narrowly defeating the Swiss side 3-2 on aggregate. However, they did lose the second-leg 2-1, despite taking an early lead in the picturesque Geneva.

It was a party atmosphere for the Servette supporters. As Enzo Maresca said post-match, it was their biggest game of the season. When a club like Chelsea come to town, it is always going to be.

And the Servette team played like it, spurred on by their raucous support in Stade de Geneve. In the second half, when Servette were chasing an equaliser (on aggregate), the play was suspended for a couple of minutes while a firework display went off in the stand behind Filip Jorgensen.

Ironically, it probably suited Chelsea. The stoppage in play took a bit of the sting out of the game - and the visitors, stunned by the events in the second half, certainly needed that.

The match was not being televised in the UK, although you could watch it on Chelsea's website. So there is a chance you may have missed proceedings in Switzerland. football.london has you covered, though, with the biggest talking points and some moments that may have been missed...

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Worrying Badiashile trend

When he first arrived at the club in January 2023, there was plenty of excitement around the £34million signing of Benoit Badiashile. A young centre-back with big potential - Chelsea supporters were certainly on board with it.

And under Graham Potter, he flourished. Confident on the ball, dominant in the air, an all-round football intelligence that saw his popularity among Chelsea supporters grow and grow.

However, he struggled last season. And unfortunately for Badiashile, this season has started the same. The Frenchman no longer looks confident and composed while in possession - something you absolutely require if you are playing football the Maresca way.

Badiashile now looks a shadow of the player that arrived from Monaco more than 18 months ago. It has gotten to the point now where Chelsea supporters - especially on the cruel world that is social media - have completely lost patience with him.

In the second leg against Servette, when the dangerous Dereck Kutesa ran at the Chelsea defence on 32 minutes, Badiashile put his arm in the air - we're not sure why - and ran one side while Jeremy Guillemenot went the other and the striker finished brilliantly. It was poor defending from Badiashile.

It was not just Badiashile, though, there were other Chelsea players such as Enzo Fernandez and Axel Disasi that did not cover themselves in glory in a defensive sense on the night. Yes, it was Chelsea's second team in terms of the back-four but equally, the drop off between that and the main side is too big.

Wasteful Chelsea

A lot was made of Chelsea's defending in Geneva - and rightly so - but the attack was very wasteful on the night. The Blues had some glorious opportunities to put the tie to bed, on several occasions, but wasted those chances.

Servette goalkeeper Joel Mall was outstanding on the night but the visitors needed to be more clinical. Mykhailo Mudryk missed a good one-on-one chance, as did Noni Madueke and Cole Palmer.

After scoring six in Wolverhampton at the weekend, they can almost be forgiven but it was certainly an off-night for the Chelsea attackers.

What Palmer did to Bettinelli

A moment you certainly would have missed. At half-time, the Chelsea substitutes were warming up amongst themselves, with every player having a ball to dribble around with.

Palmer was one of the subs and goalkeeper Marcus Bettinelli tried to creep up on the 22-year-old to steal his ball. Palmer, though, sensed Bettinelli's presence behind him and dribbled away with the ball.

And then it was essentially Palmer trying to keep the ball away from the Chelsea goalkeeper. At one point, Bettinelli lunged in to try and rob the ball, but Palmer - the genius that he is - sensed what was about to happen and did a backheel flick between his legs.

Bettinelli put his hands on his head. Palmer ran off with the ball, presumably having a laugh about what he just did.