Chelsea thrashed Real Betis 4-1 to win the UEFA Europa Conference League in Wroclaw, Poland on Wednesday, ending their 2024-25 season with silverware just days after confirming their spot in the UEFA Champions League for the next season. The title win made Chelsea the first club to win all three major European Championships, having won the UCL and the Europa League (2013 and 2019) on two occasions.
The Blues are also the first side to win all five of UEFA’s men’s senior club competitions, including Super Cup and Cup Winners Cup. In addition, the club with a rich history have also claimed the FIFA Club World Cup in 2021.
The Blues had to struggle in the first half, going down 1-0 after a ninth-minute goal by Abde Ezzalzouli before making a comeback in the second half.
“In the first half, we approached the game in the wrong way. I expected it a little bit, because for two days the happiness was a little bit too much after Nottingham Forest,” said Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca.
“You go all season waiting, waiting. We struggled a little bit with that, but the second half was much better. The message after Forest was that if we wanted to be an important team, what we’ve done is done and we have to win a final now. That was the message, but there’s the happiness, the tiredness. We played on Sunday for a big target, (Betis) played on Friday for nothing. They had 48 hours extra. I expected it a little bit, but in the second half we were much better and we were attacking in behind, which we didn’t do before half-time,” he added.
Chelsea beat Forest 1-0 in the last league game to finish fourth in the Premier League, denying their opponent a chance in UCL while confirming their spot.
Enzo Fernández opened the account for Chelsea in the 65th minute before Nicolas Jackson found the back of the net in the 70th minute. It was followed by an 83rd-minute goal by Jadon Sancho and ended with an extra-time goal by Moisés Caicedo in the 91st minute.
“I’m very proud, and very happy,” he said. “I know the fans deserve it, they’ve waited for a few years for good moments. The club has invested a lot of money so they’ve been waiting too. Hopefully, this can be a starting point and we can begin to create something important,” said an elated Maresca.
The target for next season? We’re going to try again. We’ll enjoy it for a week or so, and then start looking ahead,” he concluded.
Chelsea have now won nine UEFA club competitions, placing them eighth in the all-time rankings behind Real Madrid (26), AC Milan (17), Barcelona (14), Liverpool (13), Bayern München (12), Juventus (11) and Ajax (10). Inter can join them on nine trophies if they beat Paris in the upcoming UEFA Champions League final in Munich.
