PALMER INSPIRES CHELSEA COMEBACK

Ice-cool playmaker leads Chelsea's recovery against Real Betis as Blues complete full set of UEFA trophies

- Danny Lewis

Many expected Chelsea to win the Conference League from the moment the club were entered into it, and they made fairly light work of reaching the final.

After getting past Servette, they topped the table during the league phase having won every game, scoring eight goals more than anybody else and conceding the joint-fewest. The Blues then beat Copenhagen by one goal in both legs of their last-16 tie, suffered their only loss of the competition against Legia Warsaw after winning the first leg 3-0, then emphatically beat Djurgarden by a 5-1 aggregate scoreline in the semis.

For Real Betis, winning a European trophy was a dream they had never previously got close to realising. Their route to the final was a far more taxing one after their dominant victory over Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih in the play-off round.

Los Verdiblancos won just one of their first four matches in the league phase - losing against Legia Warsaw and Mlada Boleslov - before recording 1-0 wins over Petrocub Hincesti and HJK Helsinki to stagger through in 15th. A 3-0 win over Gent in the first leg of their knockout round play-off meant any concern was avoided in the return tie, they drew with Vitoria Guimaraes before winning the second leg 4-0, and then recorded a win and draw against Jagiellonia Bialystok to reach a European semi-final for the first time.