Jacob Steinberg was at Stadion Wrocław tonight. Here’s his report. Congratulations to Chelsea, commiserations to Real Betis, and thanks to you for reading this MBM.
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Enzo Maresca talks to TNT. “I am very happy … a little bit frustrated in the first half … we approached the game in the wrong way … the happiness after Nottingham Forest was too much … we struggled a little bit first half … the second half much better … we are very happy … the message after Nottingham was ‘guys, if we want to be an important team, what is done is done, now we need to win the final’ … we had 48 hours less than them … they played Friday for nothing, we played Sunday for a big target … I promise you, I will start always with Reece James … but I am trying to protect him … he played more games this season than the last two or three years … Malo Gusto is one of my preferred players … the problem is that the first goal we conceded was from his pass … he is young … a mistake, it doesn’t matter … for me personally I feel good … for the fans they deserve it … the club has invested a lot of money … this can be a starting point … creating something important … next season, we are going to try again … now we sit with the club and decide for next year.”
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Levi Colwill speaks to TNT. “To be the first club to win everything possible … you can see how much it means to the fans … we knew Betis was going to be a good team … a lot of heart … but we knew it would die off … pick our moment … when you watch from the bench you can see where the spaces are … Benoît Badiashile worked hard and then the gaps opened … he put the foundations in for me … winning the final … my first European trophy … getting Champions League for next season … I don’t think you can end any better than that!”
… and then it’s Enzo Maresca’s turn to lead his men up to the podium! Gold medals are issued. Reece James is the last in line, and he’s handed the Conference League trophy. With a gentle smile, he wanders over to the rest of his team-mates, performs the pre-lift jig, and raises the big silver vase into the sky as gold ticker tape rains down. Then off they trot to their fans, taking turns to hoist their reward in exchange for whoops and hollers. It’s party time in Wrocław … at one end of the stadium, anyway.
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Chelsea form a guard of honour as Real Betis come up to receive their silver medals. A lot of grim faces led by Manuel Pellegrini, who is trying his best to put a brave face on it. The final scoreline of 4-1 was cruel on them, but when the sting of defeat wears off, they’ll be proud to have broken new ground for the club, having reached their first-ever European final. A lovely bittersweet moment as Cédric Bakambu, smiling wryly as his medal is draped over his head, goes up to gently touch the trophy he won’t have the satisfaction of lifting. So close, and yet so far.
Reece James talks to TNT: “It’s a great feeling … we knew it would be tough … the early goal unsettled us … we grew into it … it’s devastating to know you’re not starting … but it was the manager’s decision … I was ready to come on when needed … the first half we were flat … we needed a reaction in the second half and we got it … the Conference League was something we had to win … next season we go again in the Champions League.”
… as does Cole Palmer: “I was trying to find space as the game got going, and I did … to be the only team in history [to win all four Uefa trophies] is a great feeling.”
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A lot of the Real Betis players are in floods of tears. Isco. Adrian. Pablo Fornals, whose chance to become the first player to win two Conference Leagues has gone up in blue smoke. Meanwhile Chelsea – including owner Todd Boehly, who has broken his trophy duck - continue to bounce about. Apart from Cole Palmer, whose two assists turned this final around; he simply wanders around in the cold style. Just another day’s work for this sublime footballer. He’d pretty much gone missing until finding another gear in the second half, as well, struggling to find his best stuff for the first hour. Hey, that’s what the great footballers can do.
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Chelsea cavort! As everyone in blue hug each other, leap on each other, dance with each other, Sancho takes time to console his fellow Manchester United loanee Antony. Only one of them turned up today, the Chelsea man scoring a fine goal, a strike he celebrated wildly with all of his team-mates and just about everyone on the bench. Don’t say this didn’t mean anything to Chelsea, because a trophy’s a trophy’s a trophy! That’s something Real Betis are painfully aware of, as several of their number look towards a spot exactly 1,000 yards into the distance. They were excellent in the first half, but Isco faded in the second, their goalscorer and main danger man Abdessamad Ezzalzouli got injured, and Chelsea turned to their talent-packed bench before turning on the style. In the end, Chelsea are deserving winners … but Real Betis made them work for it.
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FULL TIME: Real Betis 1-4 Chelsea
Chelsea are the 2025 Conference League champions! They complete the full set of Uefa trophies!
90 min +5: Perraud is booked for taking a shot after the whistle that smacks Chalobah in the chops. A farcical end to the final.
90 min +4: Bartra balloons a shot off target from long distance. So much frustration in that. A first European trophy continues to elude Real Betis.
90 min +3: Chelsea’s bench en fête. Hugs and kisses.
GOAL! Real Betis 1-4 Chelsea (Caicedo 90+1)
Fernandez drives down the left. He rolls infield for Caicedo, who takes aim from the edge of the D and whistles a low shot into the bottom left. Adrian no chance!
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90 min: There will be five added minutes.
88 min: “Has someone told Antony he is still playing for Man United?” quips Malcolm Shuttleworth. He’s done nothing tonight all right, and now his frustration boils over, as he engages in philosophical debate with Fernandez, having had his offer of a help-up refused. The pair flap at each other but thankfully don’t connect. Grown men and all.
87 min: Palmer, who turned this game around for Chelsea with those two world-class assists, makes way for Guiu. Meanwhile Lo Celso has come on for Cardoso.
86 min: Or is it? Jesus Rodriguez enters the Chelsea box from the left and battles to get in ahead of James. He goes down, and there’s contact from behind, but who knows what referees think any more. No penalty, and VAR isn’t of a mind to overturn the decision. Real Betis not happy.
85 min: Sancho is booked for stripping off his shirt, like he’ll care about that. He disappears into a sea of team-mates. This is over.
GOAL! Real Betis 1-3 Chelsea (Sancho 83)
Sancho doesn’t need asking twice! Dewsbury-Hall drives down the middle and passes towards Sancho to his left. Sabaly should intercept and clear, but misses the ball altogether. Sancho takes up possession, enters the box, and curls a powerful shot across Adrian and into the top right! Exquisite finish!
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82 min: Fernandez spins to make space in the middle of the park before sending Sancho on a run down the left. Sancho drifts inside and considers shooting. He may as well have done, because after his dithering awhile, the move breaks down.
80 min: Jackson can’t continue – he might have tweaked a hamstring while butchering that chance - and is replaced by Dewsbury-Hall.
79 min: Jackson goes down, requiring some treatment. After the whistle goes, Palmer boots the ball away, and goes into the book as a result.
77 min: Sabaly wins a corner down the right. From the set piece, Cardoso shapes to shoot, but can’t get an effort away. Then suddenly Chelsea counter, and Jackson is completely free on the halfway line! He’s only got Adrian to beat, plus Sancho to his right, but takes an absurdly heavy touch to allow the keeper to claim. That should have been that.
76 min: Betis look collectively flustered. Even Isco, imperious in the first half, is struggling to control the ball. Such a shift in momentum.
74 min: So far, Chelsea have completed 477 passes to 198 for Betis. Whether that tells the whole story, I’m not sure, as it’s also fair to say it’s been a proper game of two halves so far. Can Betis reverse that by making this a half of two halves? They’ll need to. It doesn’t look like they’ve got it in them.
72 min: Betis have been sucker-punched by Palmer’s brilliance. They need something to change, and send on the pink-and-blue-haired Aitor Ruibal for the frustrated Bakambu.
GOAL! Real Betis 1-2 Chelsea (Jackson 70)
Palmer assists again! And again it’s delightful. He turns Jesus Rodríguez inside out, like an old sock, with a dragback down the right. He crosses to the near post. Jackson again can’t miss. He should head home, but the ball pings off the Chelsea crest instead, and into the top right! What a turnaround.
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69 min: Betis show in attack for the first time in ages, Cardoso dribbling down the left channel and rolling infield for Isco, who has the opportunity to shoot from just inside the box, but opts to take a touch instead. Bad idea. Chelsea swarm him, and the chance is gone.
68 min: Sancho drives down the left and cuts back for Palmer, on the left-hand edge of the Betis D. Palmer sidefoots hard towards the top left. Adrian does well to parry and claim.
67 min: On the touchline, Manuel Pellegrini wears a grim look. And no wonder, it’s been all Chelsea in this second half. Betis can’t keep hold of the ball at all. And now with the scores level, soaking up pressure suddenly doesn’t seem such an attractive option.
GOAL! Real Betis 1-1 Chelsea (Fernandez 65)
… that hasn’t paid dividend! Palmer, who has been super-quiet so far, finds a bit of time and space down the inside-right channel. He checks inside before floating a glorious in-swinging cross towards Fernandez, who can’t miss from six yards, gently guiding a header across Adrian and into the bottom left! Lovely goal.
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64 min: Palmer dribbles towards the Betis box down the left channel but there’s no way through. The Spanish side seem happy enough to sit back and soak things up right now. However …
63 min: … so one of Manchester United’s on-loan wingers will be heading back to Old Trafford with a European medal in his pocket. But which one?
61 min: Chelsea make a double change. Neto and Badiashile off, Colwill and Sancho on. Sancho playing in this final 12 months after featuring for Borussia Dortmund in last season’s Champions League denouement.
59 min: Chelsea have been the better side since the restart. Betis looked so comfortable on the ball during the early exchanges of the first half. Not so much right now.
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57 min: That corner’s hit long as well, but Jackson’s shot from a tight angle is easy pea-roller pickings for Adrian. At least Jackson’s fit to continue.
56 min: The corner’s hit long from the left. James meets the dropping ball by sending a screamer goalwards. It’s deflected wide right. Another corner coming, this time from the right.
55 min: Madueke romps down the left flank. He whips a cross into the mixer. Adrian comes off his line and punches clear. He also catches Jackson and his own man Bartra. Enzo Maresca dances around, demanding a penalty. Badiashile is booked for doing the same. VAR has a look, but it’s just a corner.
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53 min: The goalscorer Ezzalzouli has been limping since the start of the second half, and he can’t continue. He makes way for the flying 19-year-old wing prospect Jesus Rodríguez.
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52 min: Jackson nearly manages to catch Bartra in the face with a high-kick. He’s fortunate that he only grazes one of his opponent’s nipples instead. The referee keeps his cards in his pocket.
50 min: Madueke releases Jackson down the left, but the out-of-sorts striker can’t find a team-mate with a pass back inside, and then the flag goes up for offside anyway.
49 min: The in-form Antony has been quiet so far. He probes down the left flank but is forced to retrace his steps.
47 min: James is in the thick of it early doors, floating a diagonal ball from the right and nearly finding Fernandez in space in the Betis box. But that’s a goal kick. “We’re currently in the Betis stadium watching the match on the big screens in the centre of the pitch, the last-ever event before this old stadium is knocked down,” report Garry and Alex McGibbon. “There’s AT LEAST 60,000 people here cheering on Betis and I’ve never experienced anything like it. If the Betis players had any idea what the atmosphere is like here there’d be no way on earth they lose this match.”
Betis get the second half underway. Malo Gusto, who was all over the shop during the first half, has been replaced at right-back by the club captain Reece James. Betis have made a swap too, replacing Ricardo Rodríguez at left-back with Romain Perraud.
Half-time postbag. “Among the list of Premier League ex-pats and aforementioned Reluctant Traveler episode stars is Hector Bellerin. He misses out today due to injury, but presume he’s as keen as any for silverware against his former London rivals” – Pete Mumola
“The competition might not be the level many Chelsea fans want, but I’m a bit of a veteran, so I’ll take whatever’s going” – Julian Menz
“I think the evidence of the last couple of decades is pretty clear in that La Liga, across the board, is the premier league in Europe. While success has many fathers, I suspect that facing a big three, each with disparate playing identities, has led the second tier to become very flexible tactically. The way Betis snuff out counter-attacks has been masterful, and yet they have been able to attack in numbers, putting pressure on a callow defending unit. Pellegrini has given his players a plan perfectly suited to defeat Chelsea, and his players are executing it perfectly” – Kári Tulinius
“Has Gusto been inverted into no-man’s-land?” – Gary Stover
Half-time entertainment. Whatever happens here tonight, Chelsea will still have the Club World Cup to play for this summer. Speaking of which …
HALF TIME: Real Betis 1-0 Chelsea
Bartra and Fernandez bicker as the whistle goes and everyone departs down the tunnel. It’s a half-time scoreline that flatters Chelsea. Their starting XI haven’t clicked at all. Enzo Maresca has some decisions to make during the break.
45 min: Neto cuts infield from the left and shifts the ball inside for Fernandez, who opens his body and takes a shot that deflects wide right of goal. Nothing comes of the resulting corner.
44 min: Madueke, having switched flanks, crosses from the right. Neto, now on the left, can’t control at the far stick. Chelsea have been impotent up front so far.
42 min: The free kick is floated into the box. Jorgensen flaps at it. The ball drops to Natan, who shoots straight at Badiashile. Chelsea counter, and Neto chases after a ball played down the inside-left channel. Adrian claims just inside his box and takes Neto’s boot for his trouble. He’s not happy, but the referee continues on his laissez-faire way.
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41 min: Isco and Ezzalzouli combine crisply down the inside-left channel. Isco prepares to take up the wall pass only to be scythed from behind by Caicedo. It’s a free kick in a dangerous position, five yards outside the box near the left-hand corner. It probably should be a booking, but the referee’s allowing things to go this evening.
39 min: Caicedo chips cutely down the middle of the park and finds Palmer just inside the Betis box. Palmer tries to twist and guide a backwards header goalwards, but can’t get enough loop on his effort. Adrian is on point to claim calmly, but Natan hacks away instead. That latter action the first moment of panic in the Betis defence.
37 min: A flicked header down the left releases Isco into space. He’s got team-mates in the middle, but strangely hesitates, allowing Gusto to get back into position and block the route for a cross. Isco turns tail and there goes that momentum.
35 min: Neto hoicks an ambitious shot high and wide from a tight angle on the right.
34 min: Isco, Cardoso and Ezzalzouli juggle their way down the left touchline. Every pass completed in a tight space. Isco then shovels a long ball down the flank, but Ezzalzouli doesn’t bother going for it, because Jorgensen has read the danger and comes out of his box to clean up.
32 min: Madueke wins a corner down the left, but nothing comes of it. They’ve still to work Adrian, but there’s a sense of their getting a foothold in the game at long last.
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31 min: Ezzalzouli is a constant menace. He scampers past Gusto down the left again, but this time the defender fights back and extends a leg to deflect the ball out for a corner. From the set piece, Chelsea try to launch a counter, and they’ve got more men in their attack than Betis have defenders on point, but the bounce of the ball never quite falls for them, and they’re unable to piece a move together. Betis regroup.
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29 min: A better ball out from Badiashile this time, as he breaks the lines and releases Fernandez into space down the left. The ball’s shuttled further left to Madueke, who gets a cross in, but Jackson’s heavy touch puts an end to the move. Better from Chelsea, though.
27 min: Madueke drops a shoulder in the hope of skating past Sabaly down the left, but the Betis defender sticks to him like glue. Madueke is forced to turn tail. Adrian hasn’t had anything to do yet.
25 min: Betis pounce on another loose Chelsea pass out from the back, this time from Badiashile. The ever-dangerous Ezzalzouli is fed down the left. He fizzes a low cross into the mixer. It just evades Cardoso and Bakambu, and Cucurella is able to mop up. But Chelsea are living very dangerously here.
23 min: Cardoso spins away from Palmer and Neto with one outrageous pirouette. He lays off to Ezzalzouli, who is clanked to the floor in the agricultural style by Gusto. Some referees would have flashed yellow for that. Betis aren’t quite giving Chelsea the runaround … but they’re definitely on top and playing with sublime confidence.
21 min: Betis should be two up. Ezzalzouli bothers Gusto once again down the left. He sits Caicedo down, then cuts back to Cardoso in a pocket of space 12 yards out. He shoots … but the ball takes a deflection and flies off target. Nothing comes of the corner. That was too easy for Betis in the build-up, though. Gusto and Caicedo all over the shop.
19 min: Some much-needed possession for Chelsea. They pass and probe, and a combination of Palmer and Neto nearly opens Betis up down the right, but the Spanish defence holds firm. No way through.
17 min: Isco is everywhere at the moment. He nearly releases Bakambu down the inside-right channel with a floated wedge, but Cucurella extends a leg to deflect the ball away from danger. Betis so close again to busting through the Chelsea back line.
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15 min: Caicedo has a speculative dig from long range. It’s blocked easily.
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14 min: … and from the resulting corner, Sabaly lashes wildly over the bar from distance.
13 min: Ezzalzouli is causing all manner of problems down the left. He hassles Gusto but can’t quite burst through. He then crosses low from the left. Jorgensen claims. But Betis come back again, Bartra trying his luck from the best part of 30 yards. His shot is heading into the top right. Jorgensen is forced to tip over the bar.
11 min: Chelsea are looking nervous. A simple long blooter down the middle nearly undoes them, Chalobah heading backwards nervously, Bakambu nearly nipping in. Had the striker controlled, he was clear on goal. Chalobah gets away with one.
GOAL! Real Betis 1-0 Chelsea (Ezzalzouli 9)
What a finish this is! Gusto’s loose pass is intercepted by Betis. Isco advances on the box down the inside-right channel, and squares cleverly for Ezzalzouli, who is in acres down the other channel. He takes a touch to make extra time, before lashing a low drive across Jorgensen and into the bottom right. What a finish, and what an assist by Isco.
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7 min: Ezzalzouli slips the ball to Isco on the overlap down the left. Isco’s low cross is half-spilled by Jorgensen, but eventually claimed. It’s a breezy start to this final.
6 min: … so having said that, Palmer slaloms gracefully down the right and enters the box, before half-scuffing a shot straight at Adrian. Both teams on the front foot.
5 min: Ezzalzouli turns elegantly into space down the left. He reaches the byline and crosses. Antony heads harmlessly over the bar. Ezzalzouli looks the liveliest player during these admittedly very early exchanges.
4 min: Some early nerves betray Gusto, who lets the ball clank between his legs and nearly allows Isco to race clear with it. He recovers just in time to tidy up.
2 min: Bartra gives Adrian a bit of a hospital pass. The keeper clears, though he’s nearly closed down by Jackson, whose over-eager challenge is penalised. Adrian springs up again. Both teams in the wars, but no serious harm done.
1 min: Chelsea knock it long. Isco returns the ball down the left flank. Ezzalzouli nearly gets on the end of the long pass, but Chalobah comes across to clear. The Chelsea defender takes an accidental knee on the noggin for his trouble, but thankfully he’s up and about again soon enough.
Chelsea get the ball rolling. Wrocław roars.
The teams are out! Chelsea in their royal blue, Real Betis in their green and white stripes, matching the colours of the Andalusian flag … and of the Celtic kit that was donated to the club back in the 1910s, Betis having previously played in blue themselves. Speaking of colour schemes, the Stadion Wrocław is home to Polish second division side Śląsk Wrocław, who also dress in green, and so the fixtures and fittings of the stadium give Betis a little aesthetic edge. Only a little one, mind, given the vivid wall of blue down one end of the ground. Both sets of fans giving it plenty. What an atmosphere! We’ll be off in a few minutes, once pennants have been swapped and coins tossed.
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Pre-match postbag. “The Apple TV show The Reluctant Traveler with Eugene Levy featured an episode on Real Betis last year. The host seemed really enamoured with the Spanish club and its passionate fans. If it were up to him, I reckon the Blues will be up Schitt’s Creek today” – Peter Oh
“For some reason even unknown to myself I wanted to find out where the first Conference Final was held so I opened the MBM from that game. I was struck by this line in the preamble: ‘Tonight’s finalists have played 36 matches between them in the competition thus far and tonight either Jose Mourinho or the considerably less famous Arne Slot will mastermind victory for their side.’ Whatever happened to those two managers since then?” – John Brennan
… but while Betis can’t boast much of a record against the English – they’ve lost six of their other seven matches, most recently getting thumped 5-1 on aggregate by Manchester United in the 2022-23 Europa League – Chelsea have their own historical demons to conquer. Their record against Spanish clubs is a positive one (W20 D18 L13) but their last encounter with Spaniards ended in a 4-0 aggregate thrashing by Real Madrid in the 2022-23 Champions League quarters. And the overall record between Spain and England in Uefa finals isn’t great: this is the 17th final between teams from the two countries, and Spain have won 11 of the previous 16, including all of the last nine. Ulp.
Chelsea and Real Betis have met four times before. The Blues won home and away in the quarter-finals of their ultimately successful 1997-98 Cup Winners’ Cup campaign. They also won 4-0 at Stamford Bridge in the 2005-06 Champions League groups, though Betis prevailed in the reverse in Seville, and that game remains their only win in eight fixtures against English opponents.
How Chelsea got here. They survived a scare in the play-off round against Servette, winning the first leg 2-0 but losing the second in Switzerland 2-1. However since then, it’s not been much of a struggle. They won all six of their matches to top the league phase, against Gent, Panathinaikos, Noah, Heidenheim, Astana and Shamrock Rovers, before seeing off Copenhagen, Legia Warsaw and Djurgårdens in the knockouts. Legia did beat them 2-1 at Stamford Bridge, but only after the Blues won 3-0 away.
By contrast, Betis have had quite the journey. After sailing through a play-off against Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih, they finished 15th in the league phase, beating Celje, Petrocub Hîncești and HJK but losing to Legia Warsaw and Mladá Boleslav. After another play-off victory, this time over Gent, they’ve beaten Vitória de Guimarães, Jagiellonia Białystok and tournament whipping boys Fiorentina to get to the final.
Some less welcome pre-match reading. The Polish police were forced to mobilise as fans acted up last night and this afternoon. Jacob Steinberg reports from Wroclaw.
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Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca speaks to TNT Sports. “It’s a final … an important game … but we try to prepare as we have done all season … we have started to win games in an ugly way … that is something at the beginning of the season we struggled to do … Forest away, you need that, I am very happy … it has been very difficult [to select the starting XI] … the boys all deserve to play this game … today it has been complicated for the first XI but hopefully it’s the right one … I said this season we would have liked to play Champions League or Europa League but we are in the Conference League and we need to try to win that … for us this is the most important competition, because it is the one we are playing … winning is very important … a starting point … for fighting for titles … hopefully we can win … [Pellegrini, who Maresca worked under at West Ham] is going to try to win the game, I will try to win the game, and in the end nothing will change.”
Real Betis coach Manuel Pellegrini talks to TNT Sports. “This is the first time Betis is going to play a European final so it is not easy to manage that … I am sure from the first minute we will try to have the personality to win the game … the fans are unbelievable … very similar to West Ham … we always have 50,000 people behind us and if you have a big stadium you will play with 70,000 … Betis fans are exactly the same … always with the team every time we play … we need to win this game for them … both teams play in a similar way … attacking … from the first minute … a difficult game because Chelsea are a good team.”
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The Real Betis side contains some names familiar to followers of the Premier League. Antony is on loan from Manchester United, and has lost just one of his previous four meetings with Chelsea, winning two and drawing one. Adrián used to keep goal for West Ham United and Liverpool, winning the Premier League and Super Cup with the latter. Pablo Fornals spent four years at West Ham, and was part of their side that won this competition in 2023. Giovanni Lo Celso, formerly of Spurs, and erstwhile Southampton defender Romain Perraud are on the bench. And then there’s Isco, who has won two previous Uefa finals against English opposition, both with Real Madrid, both against Liverpool in 2018 and 2022. He’s five for five in European finals.
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Chelsea make five changes to the team selected for the 1-0 Premier League win at Nottingham Forest last Sunday. Filip Jörgensen replaces Robert Sánchez in goal. Benoît Badiashile, Trevoh Chalobah and Malo Gusto step into the defence, with Tosin Adarabioyo, Levi Colwill and club captain Reece James making way. Nicolas Jackson comes in for Jadon Sancho up front. All of the players replaced are on the bench.
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The teams
Real Betis: Adrian, Sabaly, Bartra, Natan, Ricardo Rodriguez, Johnny, Fornals, Antony, Isco, Ezzalzouli, Bakambu.
Subs: Vieites, Gonzalez, Perraud, Altimira, Lo Celso, Ruibal, Mendy, Jesus Rodriguez, Ortiz, Flores, Pablo Garcia.
Chelsea: Jorgensen, Gusto, Chalobah, Badiashile, Cucurella, Fernandez, Caicedo, Pedro Neto, Palmer, Madueke, Jackson.
Subs: Sanchez, Bergstrom, Adarabioyo, Acheampong, Colwill, Amougou, James, Dewsbury-Hall, George, Sancho, Nkunku, Guiu.
Referee: Irfan Peljto (Bosnia-Herzegovina).
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Pre-match reading. Set that scene. Whet that palate.
There have been three previous Conference League finals. Here’s a chance to relive them all. West Ham fans, you’re welcome.
Preamble
The four-year-old Uefa Conference League may not have the cachet of the Europa League, never mind the star-spangled glamour and high-alpha-status of the Champions League. But it still counts for something. Try talking it down to Roma, whose 2022 victory was the Italian giants’ first in Europe for 61 years. Try dismissing it to anyone involved with West Ham United, whose 2023 win marked their first trophy of any sort since 1980. Try speaking ill of it to Olympiacos, whose triumph last year was a continental first for both club and country. Try telling Fiorentina, twice losing finalists and losing semi-finalists this year, that their tears, aching and longing mean nothing.
Chelsea surely won’t be looking down their noses at it this evening. Their game last weekend at Nottingham Forest, in which victory secured their place in next year’s Champions League, may have been more important in terms of pounds and pence, as well as pride for a club more used to a place at the top table. But football’s about bugger all if that means more than winning an actual pot, and here’s a chance for some shiny silverware at the end of an occasionally fraught season. Plus a win would make them the first club to have won all five major Uefa titles. The chance to complete the set might not come around again too soon.
Real Betis meanwhile are looking to win their first-ever European trophy in their first-ever European final. Given their arch city rivals Sevilla are the greatest club in Europa League history, that’s a gap on their roll of honour they’ll be desperate to fill. So this counts for something all right; both teams have plenty on the line this evening. Kick-off at the Stadion Wrocław in Poland is at 9pm local time, 8pm BST. It’s on!
