Chelsea

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Such has been Antony's impact in Seville, captain Isco and former Real Betis winger Joaquin have joked about kidnapping the 25-year-old.

In 25 matches since he joined, Betis have won 13 and drawn eight, losing only four. The club have secured a Europa League spot by finishing sixth in La Liga and were leading 1-0 with 25 minutes remaining in Poland as they chased a first European trophy before Chelsea's fightback.

Simon Stone, BBC Sport's chief football news reporter, said: "The real problem is the price tag if it comes to a permanent sale.

"It is fairly obvious the club has no chance of getting back the £81.3m they paid for him. He still has two years left on his initial five-year contract, so for amortisation purposes, United still need to sell him for £32.52m - otherwise they make a loss."

Chelsea

When Jadon Sancho's loan move to Chelsea from Manchester United was confirmed on 31 August, it seemed a perfect deal for all parties. The £73m signing from Borussia Dortmund in July 2021 had been going through a troubled time at Old Trafford.

Chelsea agreed an obligation to buy Sancho for a fee of around £20-25m - if they were to finish higher than 14th in the Premier League - or pay a £5m clause to get out of the deal.

When questioned about Sancho's future following Wednesday's Conference League final, Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca told TNT Sports: "From now, we'll discuss it with the club. If we finish fourth, it's thanks to Jadon [Sancho], and if we win tonight, it's the same.

"It's normal to have ups and downs during a season. It's part of the game."

Chelsea

Here's Cole Palmer and Tosin Adarabioyo talking about what changed the game for Chelsea in Poland last night.

Chelsea

Boss Enzo Maresca on Chelsea winning the Conference League: ''Hopefully it can be a starting point to build a winner mentality. You need to win games, you need to win a competition. For sure the trophy we won tonight is going to make us better but also I'm very proud about the path of the journey we have done in the Premier League.

"That for me is the most difficult competition in the world. You have to be consistent in 38 games and these players, they've shown why after Nottingham Forest my outburst (celebration) was a little bit exaggerated. But the reason why is just because in 38 games you need to be consistent and with the youngest squad in the history of the Premier League. It's something unbelievable."

Jadon Sancho and Antony shared a long hug after the Conference League final.

Neither have enjoyed the greatest of times at parent club Manchester United as they've both tried to revive their careers elsewhere.

Image source, Getty Images

Image source, Getty Images

2012-13: Rafael Benitez’s reign as Chelsea’s interim boss ended with silverware after they beat Benfica 2-1 in Amsterdam. Fernando Torres put Chelsea ahead before Benfica levelled from the penalty spot. Then deep into stoppage time Branislav Ivanovic headed home to secure the trophy.

2018-19: It was an all-English final this time, with Chelsea beating Arsenal 4-1 in Baku to secure the trophy for a second time. Eden Hazard was on the scoresheet twice and also assisted Pedro. Olivier Giroud scored Chelsea’s first on the night against his former club and Alex Iwobi scored the Gunners’ only goal to make it 3-1 on 69 minutes. Victory gave the Blues' boss Maurizio Sarri the first trophy of his managerial career.

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2011-12: Who could forget that night in Munich? Thomas Muller put Bayern Munich ahead in the 82nd minute but Didier Drogba popped up to level at the death to send the tie into extra time. It went to penalties and the decisive spot-kick fell to Drogba, who rolled the ball past Manuel Neuer to seal Chelsea’s first Champions League title.

2020-21: Kai Havertz wrote his name into Chelsea folklore as his goal proved to be the difference against Manchester City in Porto. After that goal neither team managed to land a shot on target in the rest of the game. It was Thomas Tuchel's first trophy as Chelsea boss - he came in to replace Frank Lampard that January.

Nizaar Kinsella
BBC Sport football news reporter

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This Conference League success seems bigger for Chelsea's US-ownership than it was for the supporters.

Todd Boehly, Behdad Eghbali and Jose E. Feliciano were on the pitch celebrating with their squad, which is officially the youngest in the Premier League era.

The first one to celebrate with the players in Wroclaw was Boehly, followed more reluctantly by the Clearlake Capital co-founders.

They know that this can only be the beginning of a more glorious era but there will be some relief that two days shy of the three-year anniversary of their £2.5bn purchase of the club from Roman Abramovich, they have finally won something, buying themselves some goodwill with an unconvinced fanbase.

Jonty Colman
BBC Sport

Uefa said having three competitions - the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League - would ensure at least 34 national associations were represented in the group stage of one or more competitions.

Following the Conference League's introduction, the Europa League was reduced from a 48-team competition to 32 teams but has since changed to 36 - mirroring the new Champions League format.

A total of 32 teams play in the Conference League from the league phase onwards.

Europe's top 12 nations - based on Uefa's association ranking - are only given one Conference League place each before teams - who fail to qualify for the Europa League - are taken into consideration.

Teams who miss out on qualifying for the Europa League must progress through at least one round of qualifying.

In 2024-25, 29 different European nations were represented in the competition's league phase, with Wales and Northern Ireland in for the first time.

Of the seven teams to reach the final in its four-season history, including Real Betis and Chelsea, five have been from teams across Europe's top three ranked nations.

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Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin said in 2021 that the Europa Conference League is a competition for everybody but especially clubs who "would not normally have a realistic chance" of winning the Champions League or Europa League.

Ceferin told Uefa TV: "We want to make our competitions more inclusive to give clubs and fans the chance to dream and compete for European honours. This is why we created the Uefa Europa Conference League.

"We have 55 national associations who make up Uefa and it is important to give clubs from as many federations the chance to prolong their European campaigns for as long as possible.

"This competition is for everybody but especially those clubs who would not normally have a realistic chance of winning the Uefa Champions League or the Uefa Europa League."

Now then, that's got us thinking... what do Chelsea need to go to the next level? Who should they sign this summer?

Also, with Chelsea becoming the latest English team to pick up a trophy, which Premier League sides do you think have had a successful season? And in what order would you rank them?

While you mull over that, we'll have another look at Chelsea's European successes and what their Conference League win means.

Nizaar Kinsella
BBC Sport football news reporter

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Chelsea striker Nicolas Jackson was told he owed a "debt" to his team-mates by manager Enzo Maresca.

His red card at Newcastle could have cost the club Champions League football but a striker-less Chelsea got over the line without him.

Jackson returned and scored the crucial second goal in the final but moments later he wasted a one-on-one chance and got injured in the process.

It's why Chelsea are openly looking for a striker with Ipswich Town's Liam Delap looking like the primary target - as it stands - but moves for RB Leizpig's Benjamin Sesko, Sporting's Viktor Gyokeres and Eintracht Frankfurt's Hugo Ekitike not ruled out.

Pat Nevin
Former Chelsea winger on Football Daily

All the raw data is there for Nicolas Jackson - the running, the moves, the pace - it all works for him. Whether you can trust in him being the one that'll do it on his own as a single centre-forward, to get you to the latter stages of the Champions League. No, he's not at that standard yet.

He may become that standard over the next few years but he's not at that standard yet. That's why I say they do need another striker.