'Lots happened at Tottenham but I'm in the place I want to be'

Lo Celso ready to 'make history' as Real Betis take on Chelsea in a final that will mean everything to them

- Sid Lowe

These are the days you're here for, the moments that give it all meaning, Giovani Lo Celso says. At Real Betis's Luis del Sol training ground rainbows appear in the sprinkler spray on the pitch where the session has just finished, last preparations before flying to Poland for the Conference League final against Chelsea. There's a line they are proud of here, a design for life: Viva el Betis, manque pierda. Long live Betis, even if they lose. And if they win? If they win, this may just be the biggest thing that has ever happened to them.

On Lo Celso's right calf is a football tattoo - old school and cartoonish with black and white hexagons - and the date of his debut, for Rosario Central in 2015. On his left is the Copa América, wrapped in an Argentina flag. He has won it twice, in 2021 and 2024. He also won a treble in France. Oh, and played a League Cup final with Tottenham - and, yes, he did watch them in Bilbao. "I put this on the same level as those finals," he says. "As a player you dream of playing games like this, and all the more so for a club like this, which is very passionate," Lo Celso says. "Every final is special, and this is lovely for the club. It's a long time since we got here, to a moment like this."