Chelsea will be desperate to clinch their first piece of silverware in four years when they face Spanish opponents Real Betis in Wednesday night’s Europa Conference League final.
Enzo Maresca’s side wrapped up a top-four finish in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon to secure their spot in next season’s Champions League. Chelsea beat Nottingham Forest at the City Ground to seal a place in Europe’s elite competition for the first time since 2023.
The Blues’ focus will now be on seeing off La Liga outfit Betis, as they target a first major trophy win since the 2021 Champions League. Victory in Wroclaw, Poland, would therefore be the first piece of silverware at Stamford Bridge under the BlueCo ownership.
Several Chelsea stars have hinted they will feature against Manuel Pellegrini’s side on Wednesday evening. Pedro Neto, Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez are among the Blues players who have posted pre-match graphics, via their Instagram stories.
Historically, stars who share the graphics have tended to be involved in the game, at least in some capacity. Blues boss Maresca was asked pre-match how important winning the Conference League would be for his young squad.
“The Conference is important,” he said. “For us it’s been important since day one. And the reason why is because it’s the competition that we are in.
“We can’t play Champions League if we are in the Conference. Or we can’t play Europa. We are in the Conference. So for us it was the most important competition. And we need to try to win that. If we are able to win, I think it’s a good thing. Especially because we continue to build the winner mentality.
“Like I said, many times, to build a winning mentality there is only one way. You cannot build a winner mentality if you don’t win games.
“I think that we won many games this season. But it’s not enough. Sunday game is finished. We qualified. We are all happy. But tomorrow [tonight] we need to show again the desire to win the title and to win the game.”
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