Real Betis v Chelsea: Line-ups, stats and preview

Preview for Real Betis v Chelsea

Chelsea have the opportunity to cap an impressive season by claiming the Conference League trophy in Wroclaw tomorrow night.

The Blues went into the season as a bit of an unknown quantity after another summer of frantic transfer activity and the arrival of Enzo Maresca as head coach.

But the Italian has done a fine job to rotate a large squad into a cohesive unit that has performed well both domestically and in Europe.

They finished fourth in the Premier League – after being the closest challengers to Liverpool for most of the first half of the campaign – while they have breezed through the Conference League to set up a final clash with Real Betis.

Europe’s third tier competition arguably helped Maresca in the early months as it offered him the chance to use members of his squad that weren’t playing in the Premier League.

One day to go #UECLfinal pic.twitter.com/xBZ9xtEXzT

— UEFA Conference League (@Conf_League) May 27, 2025

That approach did not hamper Chelsea as they made light work of clubs with more limited resources, such as Noah (an 8-0 win) and Shamrock Rovers (5-1).

The knockout phase was also straightforward, leading Chelsea to this: a final clash with Betis and the chance to make history.

Maresca said: “It would be a way of saying that we are back and that we are a winning club in Europe, and we hope to achieve just that.

“We would become the first club in Europe to win every trophy [the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and the Conference League] — that’s important.”

Tomorrow also reunites Maresca with Betis boss Manuel Pellegrini. Maresca played under the experienced Chilean at Malaga and served as his assistant coach at West Ham.

He told UEFA.com: “I see him as one of my professional footballing father figures. I am where I am today thanks to him. I worked with Manuel for four years — two years as a player and two years as part of his staff. So, I owe so much to him in terms of what I’ve achieved.

“I am grateful for the relationship we have and the advice he gives me. He told me never to change. He always said that often players and managers in football rush to change themselves and he’s always told me that the best thing is to always stay true to yourself.”

Pellegrini’s side finished sixth in La Liga after a run of poor late-season form in which Betis failed to win any of their last five games.

Despite their recent struggles, they have a talented squad that includes former Real Madrid midfielder Isco and on-loan Manchester United winger Antony.

The Brazilian’s resurgence in Seville has been remarkable given his performances at Old Trafford. He has scored nine goals and provided two assists and, more importantly, regained his self-belief after a tough time.

He told TNT Sports Brazil: “[Coming to Betis] changed a lot because I needed to find myself, because of everything I went through in my personal life.

“As I said, I wanted to do things, but they didn’t seem to work out because I wasn’t happy, I didn’t feel that desire to play football, and I needed to find myself and be happy again because playing football was always something I loved.

“I went through difficult times [at Manchester United ] when I no longer felt that pleasure. I even always told my brother, I told him that I couldn’t take it anymore.”