Chelsea 'approached the final in the wrong way' says Maresca

Chelsea ‘approached the final in the wrong way’ says Maresca

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca said he was not surprised by his side’s poor first-half performance in the Conference League final win over Real Betis.

An Isco-inspired Betis were by far the better side in the opening 45 minutes and could have been more than 1-0 up in Wroclaw.

But Maresca introduced Reece James at the interval and saw Cole Palmer conjure up two fine goals for Enzo Fernandez and Nicolas Jackson, before Jadon Sancho and Moises Caicedo added some gloss.

🏆#UECLfinal https://t.co/IntwnNBGrf pic.twitter.com/6YbJvZLiLT

— UEFA Conference League (@Conf_League) May 28, 2025

Maresca’s side beat Nottingham Forest last weekend to secure Champions League football and the manager said they were not fully focused on the Conference League final as a result.

He told TNT Sports: “I am very happy. I was a little bit frustrated in the first half because I think we approached the game in the wrong way.

“I expected it a little bit, 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 first half, second half we were much better and now we are very happy.

“The message after Nottingham Forest was, ‘Guys if we want to be an important team then what we have done is done and we have to win the final.’ But it’s the happiness, the tiredness because we had 48 hours less than them, they played on Friday for nothing, we played on Sunday for a big, big target. So I expected it a little bit.

“In the second half we played much better.”

Chelsea defender Levi Colwill said it was a fine effort to become the first team to win the Champions League, Europa League, Conference League and Cup Winners’ Cup.

He added: “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.

“We knew they 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.

“It has been amazing. We have achieved everything we wanted to do. It feels amazing winning my first European competition with Chelsea, hopefully many more to go. And getting Champions League for next season, I don’t think you can get any better than that.”