Chelsea makes history after scintillating comeback in Conference League final

CNN

2 days ago

Chelsea won the Conference League after beating Real Betis 4-1 in Wednesday's final in Wroclaw, Poland.
The Blues got off to a sluggish start and were second best throughout the opening 45 minutes, but a rousing second half turned things around for the English side.
After trailing 1-0 at the break, Chelsea grew into the game and blew its opponents away with four quickfire second half goals.
Chelsea is now the first team to complete the full set of European trophies. The Blues add the Conference League to its Champions League and Europa League wins in previous years.
Real Betis took a shock early lead when Abde Ezzalzouli drilled home a low strike past Chelsea goalkeeper Filip Jörgensen inside the opening 10 minutes.
The goal, however, was largely orchestrated by Real Betis' captain, Isco.
The 33-year-old veteran is instrumental in how his team operate and the side's conductor was responsible for carving out the opportunity for the opening goal.
The diminutive playmaker drove at the heart of the Chelsea defense – attracting the attention of three defenders – before sliding a ball into the path of Ezzalzouli.
The Moroccan winger kept his composure and fired home to give his side the advantage in an otherwise scrappy affair.
Los Verdiblancos went into the halftime break 1-0 up and knew it was just 45 minutes from sealing a famous win.
Chelsea, and in particular Cole Palmer, had other ideas, however.
Enzo Maresca's side came out of the break much-improved and leveled the score in the 65th minute through Enzo Fernández.
This time it was the turn of Chelsea's star man to make something happen and Palmer duly stepped up.
The 23-year-old curled in an inviting cross which met the onrushing Fernandez. The Argentine timed his leap perfectly and glanced a header into the bottom corner of the Real Betis net.
And Palmer was only just getting started.
The side's creator-in-chief continued to probe, hovering around the Real Betis defense waiting for the opportune moment to strike. Isolated against 19-year-old Jesús Rodríguez, Palmer made his move and Chelsea took the lead.
The 23-year-old chopped past his opponent before whipping in a right-footed cross in the direction of Chelsea forward Nicolas Jackson.
The ball ricocheted off Jackson's chest and into the Betis goal to give Chelsea a crucial 2-1 lead.
The irrepressibly gifted Palmer had singlehandedly turned the game on its head and suddenly Real Betis found itself on the backfoot.
As Betis pressed for an equalizer, the Blues took advantage of the holes in the Spanish side's defense and grabbed another goal to double their advantage.
Jadon Sancho picked up the ball on the left-hand side of the Betis box before cutting inside and curling a strike into the far corner of the goal.
Chelsea then added another late goal on the break with Moisés Caicedo finishing off a lightning-fast counterattack.
'It's a great feeling, we knew the game was going to be tough and I think they showed that extremely in the first half,' Chelsea captain Reece James told the TNT broadcast after the game.
'But as the game went on, we grew into it and thankfully scored four goals in the second half.'
Chelsea has already qualified for next season's Champions League and this success on the continent will give the young side belief ahead of next year's campaign.
'Coming into this competition, it was something we had to win ever since we got entered and next season we go again in the Champions League,' James added ahead of next season's sterner test.