Chelsea won the Conference League for the first time in its history on Wednesday. In the final against Real Betis in Wroclaw, the Premier League club came back from a 1-0 deficit and triumphed with 1-4.
Second-half goals from Enzo Fernández, Nicolas Jackson, Jadon Sancho, and Moisés Caicedo ensured that Chelsea became the fourth club with a Conference League in the trophy cabinet. AS Roma was the first winner in 2022, after a 1-0 victory in the final against Feyenoord. West Ham United (2023) and Olympiacos (2024) followed.
Chelsea is also the first club ever with all four European cups in the trophy cabinet. The Londoners have already won the Champions League twice (2012 and 2021), the Europa League twice (2013 and 2019), and won the European Cup II in 1971 and 1998, the tournament that had its last edition in 1999.
The final victory in the Conference League is normally good for a ticket to the Europa League for next season. But Chelsea already qualified for the Champions League as number four in the Premier League.
Betis has already qualified for the Europa League as number six in La Liga, but the Spanish club wanted to win a European cup for the first time in Wroclaw. That didn’t work out.
Jackson heads in after a beautiful action by Palmer in the final
Chelsea this time with important players
For Chelsea, the Conference League was a side issue for a long time. Manager Enzo Maresca invariably chose a B-team in Europe, but for the final he chose many of his basic players from the Premier League, including former PSV player Noni Madueke.
Keeper Filip Jörgensen was allowed to stay. At Betis, among others, 38-time Spanish international Isco and former Ajax player Antony were at the kick-off.
Antony, who has flourished again in Spain after difficult years at Manchester United, had the first opportunity of the final. The header from the United loanee flew high over. Betis still opened the score a little later. The dangerous Isco found Abde Ezzalzouli with a clever pass and the Moroccan international shot diagonally.
The Spaniards remained the most dangerous after the goal and Marc Bartra forced Jörgensen to make a good save with a fine shot. A shot by Betis midfielder Johnny Cardoso went past an opponent.
Chelsea more threatening in the second half
Meanwhile, Chelsea had trouble finding gaps in the tight defense of Betis and failed to test keeper Adrián before half-time.
Partly thanks to the introduction of Reece James, the English team was more threatening in the second half. In the 65th minute that led to the 1-1 from Enzo Fernández. The Argentinian nodded in a nice cross from Cole Palmer.
Chelsea immediately pushed through and after another clever action by Palmer, Jackson worked the cross in. Substitute Sancho then scored with a nice shot in the far corner, after which Caicedo was also accurate. It became 1-4 and thus a large victory for Chelsea, which completed the European trophy cabinet with the Conference League.
