Many wondered how much winning the Conference League would mean to Chelsea – but there were few doubts at the final whistle.

Nearly all season the Blues have walked over their opposition in Uefa’s third-rated tournament, but they were really tested by Real Betis in Wroclaw, especially in the first half.

However, four second-half goals were all wildly celebrated – and the players then partied after the 4-1 win as much as if they had won any other major trophy.

Cole Palmer, the man of the match, set up goals for Enzo Fernandez and Nicolas Jackson, with Jadon Sancho and Moises Caicedo also netting.

“Winning this trophy is massive,” said former Blues keeper Mark Schwarzer, a BBC Radio 5 Live summariser for the game.

“You can see what it means to them and how important it is to win it.

“This is what it’s about. It’s about creating that bond and that experience of winning a trophy.”

It was Chelsea’s first trophy since the Fifa Club World Cup in February 2022 and their first considered a major prize since the 2021 Champions League.

The club’s former midfielder Joe Cole, watching for TNT Sports, said: “People turn their noses up at it but look at all the smiling faces among the players, the staff, the fans. This is what it is all about.”

Fellow pundit Lucy Ward added: “People mock this trophy but this will mean a lot to this set of Chelsea players because it is a platform to move on into the Champions League this season.”

BBC Sport takes a look at the story of Chelsea’s Conference League campaign.

Rotating and resting players in secondary cups is not a new phenomenon – but Chelsea took it to a new level in the Conference League this season.

They averaged 8.5 changes per European game, based on their previous Premier League line-up.

In the league stage there was a recognised Premier League team and a Conference League XI – with very little overlap. They were much changed in the domestic cups too, although fell at the second hurdle in both.

England forward Palmer, their star player, was not even registered in Europe until the knockout games.

As the Blues started playing in knockout games they started using more first-team players, like Palmer, Caicedo and Marc Cucurella.

But even through that they never made fewer than five changes from their last league game, including the final.

As the season ends, well, until next month’s Fifa Club World Cup, 18 Chelsea players featured in more Conference League than Premier League games this season.

That includes five players who left the club in January.

Midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who played all 15 European games, featured 13 times in the league.

Marc Guiu, whose six goals were two shy of the Conference League Golden Boot, has yet to start a league game.

However, the final saw a stronger XI, with only four outfield changes from the side that beat Nottingham Forest last Sunday to clinch a Champions League spot.

“Chelsea have got so much more money than anyone else competing in this competition,” said ex-Blues winger Pat Nevin on BBC Radio 5 Live.

“But they have respected the competition by saying, ‘we’re not going to put out the softest of teams but we’ll put out enough to make sure we’ll get through’.

“I have to say, looking back on it all now, Enzo Maresca has done a great job.”