Chelsea on Wednesday roared back to beat Real Betis Balompie 4-1 in the UEFA Europa Conference League final in Wroclaw, becoming the first club to complete a clean sweep of European trophies.
The Conference League was not where Chelsea wanted to be, but their triumph could prove to be a turning point for a club that had lost their trophy-winning habit.
Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca’s second-half substitutions lifted his team, but an inspired Cole Palmer was the catalyst for victory, producing two pinpoint crosses for Enzo Fernandez and Nicolas Jackson.
Photo: Reuters
Jadon Sancho’s fine finish made it 3-1 and Moises Caicedo added a fourth in stoppage-time to give Chelsea their first silverware since Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital acquired the club in May 2022 from Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich.
Chelsea are the first club to win the full set of five UEFA club tournaments — the Champions League, Europa League, Conference League, Super Cup and the now-defunct Cup Winners’ Cup.
During the past three years the owners have spent more than ￡1 billion (US$1.35 billion) on promising young talent, but until now have had little to show for it.
Chelsea had been clear favorites to win Europe’s third-tier club competition from the start, enabling Maresca to field youth and fringe players.
They rampaged through the group phase, outclassing teams with a fraction of their resources such as Noah, Astana and Shamrock Rovers.
Maresca spoke on the eve of the final in Poland about how he had stressed the importance of the Conference League to his players.
He would not need to persuade them next season as they are back where they feel they belong, the Champions League, following a fourth-place finish in the Premier League.
Maresca, in his first season at Stamford Bridge, said he hoped winning the Conference League would be a launchpad for bigger and better things.
“Hopefully, it can be a starting point to build a winning mentality,” he said. “You need to win games. You need to win competitions, and for sure, the trophy we won tonight is going to make us better, but also, I’m very proud about the path or the journey we have done in the Premier League.”
Maresca had a roller-coaster first season after replacing Mauricio Pochettino.
His team were within touching distance of eventual Premier League champions Liverpool in mid-December last year before stumbling badly.
However, they found an extra gear toward the end of the campaign, negotiating a tricky run-in to finish in the Champions League spots.
“For sure, we have improved a lot since we started,” former Leicester City boss Maresca said. “We also start to win games in an ugly way. That is something with a young squad that you struggle to do that.”
The Italian has been keen to highlight the extreme youth of his expensively assembled squad.
The average age of his starting side was the youngest in a single Premier League campaign.
Under Abramovich, Chelsea became serial trophy winners, claiming five Premier League titles and winning the Champions League twice.
It is too early to predict whether they will return to those heady heights, but the Conference League is a start.
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