Chelsea wins Conference League to complete set of UEFA titles in liftoff for American owners

Chelsea finally has a trophy to show for the unprecedented levels of spending under its American owners, even if it’s hardly one they’d have craved.

The English club produced an impressive second-half rally to beat Real Betis 4-1 in the final of the Conference League on Wednesday, becoming in the process the first team to have all four of UEFA’s club competitions in its trophy collection.

Aside from the 1971 and 1998 titles in the now-defunct Cup Winners’ Cup, Chelsea’s other European silverware — the Champions League in 2012 and 2021 and the Europa League in 2013 and 2019 — came in the trophy-laden tenure of Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich.

The Abramovich era ended in 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Chelsea was bought by a consortium fronted by Los Angeles Dodgers part-owner Todd Boehly that has since spent around $1.3 billion on new players in a high-risk move to remodel the squad with mostly young stars.

Some of them delivered in the turnaround against Betis, with Enzo Fernandez and Nicolas Jackson converting pinpoint crosses from Cole Palmer in the 65th and 70th minutes, respectively, before substitute Jadon Sancho and Moises Caicedo added more goals in Wroclaw, Poland.

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Boehly went on the pitch after the final whistle to congratulate Chelsea’s players after club captain Reece James lifted the trophy to a backdrop of ticker tape and loud roars from teammates in the middle of the field.

“Coming into this competition, it was something we had to win,” James said of the Conference League, Europe’s oft-maligned third-tier competition. “Next season we go again in the Champions League.”

That elite competition is where Chelsea feels it belongs and a fourth-place finish in the Premier League, secured on Sunday, sealed a return to the Champions League.

Not a bad few days, then, for the London team and its Italian manager, Enzo Maresca, at the end of his first year in charge.

Betis comes up short

Playing in its first European final, Betis went ahead through Abdessamad Ezzalzouli’s goal in the ninth minute and was the better team in a first half of few chances.

The Seville club faded in the second half, however, as Chelsea’s strength off the bench showed. One of those influential substitutes was James, a 25-year-old right back who joined the club at the age of 6 and has suffered many long-term injuries in recent years. He said he was “devastated” not to be picked to start the final but had a big impact when he came on as a halftime replacement.

“In the first half we were flat,” James said. “The game didn’t go our way early on and it looked like it took a lot out of us. We needed a reaction in the second half, and we got it.”

The result ended a remarkable run of successes for Spanish teams in European men’s title matches. Before this game, all 23 continental finals featuring Spanish clubs since the start of the 2001-02 season had been won by a Spanish team. That included four all-Spanish matchups.

Betis couldn’t maintain it in a bid to win a European title for the first time.

Palmer makes the difference

Palmer is one of the shining lights in Chelsea’s team and the England playmaker inspired the turnaround by setting up Fernandez’s equalizer with an inviting, inswinging cross that the Argentina midfielder glanced past flat-footed Betis goalkeeper Adrian.

Palmer then delivered a brilliant piece of skill to spin his marker with a feint and cross with his weaker right foot to Jackson, who bundled the ball home off his shoulder.

Betis folded and Chelsea flooded forward for more goals, with Jackson over-running the ball when through one-on-one with Adrian.

Sancho made no mistake by cutting inside and curling a shot into the far corner in the 83rd for the last goal of his loan spell from Manchester United that might be made permanent this summer.

Caicedo — arguably Chelsea’s star player this season — got in on the act with a deflected stoppage-time strike from the edge of the area.

“We struggled a bit first half, second half we were much better and now we are very happy,” Maresca said.

Pre-match violence

The match was preceded by fan disorder in the Polish city that led to 28 people being arrested.

Police used stun grenades and a water cannon against the teams’ fans who were disturbing public order in the city, Polish state news agency PAP reported.

English double

So far, this season’s European trophies have gone to English clubs, with Tottenham winning the Europa League title last week by beating Man United — another Premier League team — 1-0 in the final.

It can’t be a treble for England because Saturday’s Champions League final in Munich will be between Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan.

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