Key events
… 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.
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.”
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.
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.
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).
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!
