Favourites Chelsea were surprisingly knocked out of the UEFA Youth League on Sunday by a Schalke side they had already beaten twice in this inaugural edition of the continental tournament.

Sunday’s quarter-final tie at Cobham followed a totally different pattern to the sides’ two group stage encounters, which the Blues had won with ease.

Goals from Sebastian Starke Hedlund, Maurice Multhaup and Florian Pick put Schalke into a commanding position and a second-half reply from John Swift couldn’t spark Chelsea into a recovery.

Having swept through the group phase with six wins from six, Chelsea thrashed AC Milan 4-1 in the last 16 to underline their status as one of the favourites to lift the Lennart Johansson Trophy in Nyon, Switzerland next month.

But Schalke will be present in the finals, along with Real Madrid, and we will see this week whether Arsenal and Manchester City can provide some English presence in the last four. Arsenal travel to Barcelona and City host Benfica, both on Tuesday evening.

Understandably, Chelsea coach Dermot Drummy fielded the same XI that beat Milan as he aimed to lead his side into the last four of a continental competition for the second consecutive year.

But last year’s NextGen Series finalists were soon on the back foot as the German visitors put them under intense pressure that was quickly rewarded.

On five minutes, an aerial challenge from Dion Conroy was deemed illegal and Hedlund stepped up to stroke the penalty confidently past goalkeeper Mitchell Beeney and into the bottom right-hand corner.

And it was thanks to Beeney that Chelsea stayed in contention as he pulled off a string of saves, notably with his feet to deny Multhaup when the Schalke striker broke clear of Ola Aina on the right-hand side.

Chelsea had just started to show signs of getting a foothold in the game — Swift heading a Lewis Baker free-kick over the bar and Andreas Christensen sending a similar chance across the bar — Schalke doubled their advantage.

The lively Leroy Sane danced round a couple of defenders and released Multhaup with a back heel. The striker blasted the ball home to send Schalke in at the break well in the ascendancy.

It would be an uphill struggle for Chelsea in the second-half but they started brightly, enjoying more possession and creating chances through Christensen and Islam Feruz before Swift halved the deficit.

Substitute Isaiah Brown advanced down the left, exchanged passes with Baker and then moved the ball on to Swift, who notched his sixth goal in the competition with a clinical finish past goalkeeper Timon Wellenreuther.

Chelsea thought they had the momentum but, 12 minutes later, Schalke sealed their progress when substitute Pick slalomed through the defence to finish low past Beeney.

Afterwards, Drummy was keen to concentrate on the plus points of their European campaign. ‘We’ve had a fantastic journey and I have to give credit to my players,’ he told Chelsea’s official website.

‘Some of them are first-years and will be able to play another two years in this competition. We’ve done really well to get to this stage but the big lesson is that you have to turn up against big sides on the day.’

—Daily Mail