Chelsea “gets close to the final the wrong way”

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Chelsea “gets close to the final the wrong way”

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca said he was not surprised by his team’s first-half performance against Real Betis in the league final.

So far, ISCO-inspired Betis has had a better side in the opening 45 minutes, possibly over 1-0 in Wroclaw.

But Maresca introduces Reece James at this interval and sees Cole Palmer score two good goals for Enzo Fernandez and Nicolas Jackson, then Jadon Sancho and Moises Caicedo add some shine.

🏆#ueclfinal pic.twitter.com/6ybjvzlilt

– UEFA Conference Alliance (@Conf_League) May 28, 2025

Maresca’s side beat Nottingham Forest last weekend to secure a Champions League football match, and the manager said they weren’t fully focused on the conference league finals.

He told TNT Sports: “I’m so happy. I was a little frustrated in the first half because I thought we were exposed to the game the wrong way.

“I expect this, after Nottingham Forest, there is a little too much happiness because you wait and wait all seasons [to achieve Champions League]. So we struggled a little in the first half, we were much better in the second half, and now we are very happy.

“The message after Nottingham Forest is, ‘Guys, if we want to be a big team, then all we do is finish and we have to win the finals.’ But it’s happiness and fatigue because we’re 48 hours less than them, they didn’t play on Friday and we played for big goals on Sunday.

“We played much better in the second half.”

Chelsea defender Levi Colwill said it was a good effort to be the first team to win the Champions League, Europa League, Conference League and Cup titles.

He added: “To be the first club to win everything possible, you can see fans celebrating now, which shows what it means to them.

“We know they’re going to be a great team, especially as their fans push them, we know that it’s going to go away. We just have to wait and choose our moment, and that’s what we do in the second half of the year.

“It’s amazing. We’ve got everything we want to do. Win my first European game with Chelsea and hopefully there are more games. Go to the Champions League next season and I don’t think you’re better than that.”