Maresca challenges Chelsea to use Conference League triumph as a launchpad

The Blues fought back to defeat Real Betis 4-1 in Wroclaw on Wednesday after trailing to Abde Ezzalzouli's goal in a limp first half.

Cole Palmer inspired the second-half turnaround, teeing up Enzo Fernandez and Nicolas Jackson in the space of five minutes to turn the game on its head.

Jadon Sancho and Moises Caicedo sealed the win late on, with the Blues becoming the first side to have four different goalscorers in a major European final since Real Madrid in the 2014 Champions League showpiece against Atletico Madrid.

They consequently became the first side to win each of the Champions, Europa, and Conference Leagues, and the first to collect four different UEFA trophies, having also lifted the now defunct Cup Winners' Cup.

Maresca, meanwhile, became the first manager to lift major European silverware in his first season in charge of an English club since Thomas Tuchel also achieved the feat with Chelsea when winning the 2020-21 UEFA Champions League.

However, when speaking to TNT Sports after the game, the Blues boss wants this to be a stepping stone to even greater achievements in the future.

"I'm very proud, very happy for many reasons. For sure, personally I feel good, but I know the fans they deserve that," he said.

"They have been waiting two or three years for a good moment, the club invested a lot of money in the last two or three years.

"Hopefully this can be a good starting point for achieving something important."

Chelsea's victory ends a run of 27 straight Spanish victories when taking into account finals of the World Cups, European Championships, Champions League and the UEFA Cup/Europa League involving Spanish sides.

Betis, though, were good value for their first-half lead, restricting Chelsea to just an expected goals rate of 0.1, but faltered badly in the second half in what was their maiden major European final.

With the Blues having earned Champions League qualification by beating Nottingham Forest only three days ago, Maresca accepted that his side might initially struggle.

"I think we approached the game in the wrong way. I expected it a bit because after two days the happiness was too much after Nottingham," he added.

"You go all season waiting, waiting, and we struggled a little bit. The second half was much better. We are very happy.

"The message after Nottingham has been 'guys, if we want to be in an important team, what is done is done. Now we are in the final'. This was the message.

"We had 48 hours, they played Friday for nothing, we played Sunday for a big target. I expected it a bit."

One surprise was Maresca's decision to select captain Reece James on the bench, but his half-time introduction was one of the reasons for Chelsea's much-improved performance after the break.

Explaining his decision, Maresca said: "I promise you, I will start always with Reece, but I am trying to protect him.