This is a unique treble in more ways than one. Chelsea are the first club in history to win all three European competitions, but they may also be the first club in history to win a treble and have that accomplishment tinged with shame over how they came to be in a position to secure it.<\/p>\n
Attained in the space of just six years after Chelsea won the Europa League in 2019 and the Champions League in 2021, it\u2019s an unprecedented achievement which illustrates the club\u2019s struggles since BlueCo took over, and we\u2019re guessing UEFA\u2019s aim when adding the Conference League to their competition catalogue wasn\u2019t for the winners to cruise to a trophy thought to be beneath them. It wasn\u2019t plain sailing in\u00a0Wroclaw though.<\/p>\n
Having seemingly come to realise at long last that Reece James is indeed a right-back and not a central midfielder, despite the Chelsea captain\u2019s brilliant displays against Manchester United and Nottingham Forest to help secure Champions League qualification, Enzo Maresca<\/a><\/strong> left him out of the side in favour of Malo Gusto \u2013 a decision he very quickly regretted and continued to regret until he made amends at half-time.<\/p>\n Both with and without the ball he was found wanting. Whether by Manuel Pellegrini\u2019s design or simply through the magnetism of his discomfort, everything \u2013 and there was a fair amount \u2013 was coming down Gusto\u2019s side. And when\u00a0Abde Ezzalzouli wasn\u2019t skipping past him, the Frenchman was giving the ball away.<\/p>\n His passes were cut out by Betis players three times in the opening half an hour and historically, and contemporarily as it turns out,\u00a0the very last player you want to be giving the ball to on the edge of your box is Isco.<\/p>\n Recently called up by Spain for the first time in six years after 17 goal contributions in his last 20 La Liga games, the 33-year-old looked every inch the five-time Champions League winner, and played a beautifully disguised pass to Ezzalzouli,\u00a0who drove his shot expertly into the far corner.<\/p>\n The La Liga side really should have doubled their lead after\u00a0Ezzalzouli again embarrassed Gusto before Johnny Cardoso\u2019s shot sailed over the bar, while\u00a0Filip Jorgensen was forced into a decent save to deny Marc Barta. It feels overly simplistic to suggest players representing a club playing in a first ever European final might Want It More than those deemed to be slumming it in a competition two rungs below the showpiece they\u2019ve won twice, but it did feel that way.<\/p>\n Chelsea shouldn\u2019t be here, wouldn\u2019t be if it Manchester United hadn\u2019t beaten Manchester City in the FA Cup final a year ago, lest we forget, and didn\u2019t look as though they\u00a0were\u00a0there for most of a first half in which the familiar trope of aimless possession combined with defensive frailty put the treble in doubt. But, Cole Palmer.<\/p>\n Two outstanding assists turned this game on its head to make it 27 goal contributions in this Fallow Season of his. The cross for Enzo Fernandez was put on a dime similar to the one Palmer then turned on before crossing for Nicolas Jackson to score the second.<\/p>\n Chelsea were an entirely different team after the break. And while we\u2019re not about to give Maresca credit for redressing his Gusto\/James mistake, he fully deserves his flowers.<\/p>\n MORE CHELSEA COVERAGE ON F365<\/strong> Whatever he said to motivate his team at the break worked wonders, his shout to bring Levi Colwill on as the best distributor from the back was inspired and while there will have been plenty of fans baulking at the introduction of Jadon Sancho, it was the Manchester United loanee who secured the trophy with Chelsea\u2019s third before Moises Caicedo was the fitting scorer of the fourth as the Player of the Year and Players\u2019 Player of the Year.<\/p>\n It might just be the best half of football Chelsea have played all season and in the immortal words of DReam: Things Can Only Get Better.<\/p>\n
\ud83d\udc49\u00a0Romano names Chelsea star set for \u2018final match\u2019 vs Betis before exit amid Man Utd \u2018real possibility\u2019<\/a><\/strong>
\ud83d\udc49\u00a0Missing Men: Can you recall Chelsea\u2019s Champions League winners from 2012?<\/a><\/strong>
\ud83d\udc49 UPDATED: Premier League net spend table over the last five years<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n