Enzo Maresca said Chelsea’s thrilling Conference League final victory over Real Betis could be the starting point of a new era of success for the club.
A Cole Palmer-inspired comeback rallied Chelsea from a goal down to win 4-1 in Wroclaw and become the first side to claim all of Uefa’s major competitions.
With Chelsea trailing to Abde Ezzalzouli’s early goal, Palmer produced two majestic assists in the space of five minutes to secure the club’s first trophy since the Boehly-Clearlake takeover in 2022.
“Hopefully it can be a starting point,” Maresca said. “To build a winning mentality you need to win games and competitions. For sure the trophy tonight is going to make us better.”
Asked about his game-changing interventions, Palmer said: “I was sick of getting the ball and going backwards and sideways. I thought: ‘When I next get the ball, I’m going to go – it worked’.”
Goals from Enzo Fernandez, Nicolas Jackson, Jadon Sancho and Moisés Caicedo triggered wild celebrations in Poland.
Victory in the Conference League came just a few days after Chelsea secured qualification for next season’s Champions League, and defender Levi Colwill said the club “had achieved everything we wanted” this season.
“To be the first club to have won everything possible, you can see the fans celebrating now and it shows how much it means to them,” Colwill said. “We knew they [Betis] were going to be a good team, especially at the start with their fans pushing them on, but we knew it was going to die off. We just had to wait and pick our moments and that is what we did in the second half.
“We have achieved everything we wanted to do. It feels amazing, winning my first European competition with Chelsea. Hopefully, there are many more to go. And getting Champions League for next season, I don’t think you can get any better than that.”
Maresca accused his players of over-celebrating Sunday’s win against Nottingham Forest and said the emotions of that game contributed to their slow start in Poland.
“I was a little bit frustrated in the first half because I think we approached the game in the wrong way,” Maresca said. “The happiness was a bit too much after Nottingham Forest because you go all season waiting and waiting [to achieve Champions League]. So we struggled a bit in the first half. In the second half we were much better.”
Sancho and Antony, who started the season at Manchester United, embraced each other at the end, with the Real Betis winger in tears. Antony is due back at Old Trafford in the summer, while Chelsea will have to pay a penalty fee to United if they do not take up their obligation to buy.
Betis paid the price for taking their foot off the pedal after an impressive first half, according to their inspirational captain Isco and veteran coach Manuel Pellegrini.
“I think we took refuge in the scoreboard a bit. We sat too deep. They’re a team with a lot of quality, a lot of power,” said Isco, a five-time Champions League winner with Real Madrid. He was outstanding in the opening 45 minutes, but, like the rest of his team-mates, looked jaded after the break.
“It’s a very heavy defeat after what we did in the first half. Football is unforgiving,” he said. “We had a good first half where they barely had any chances. We had it close and we didn’t know how to take advantage of the score, something that has penalised us all season. In a European final, mistakes are very punishing.
“In the second half, they ran over us. It’s painful.”