Despite the fact that the Europa Conference League may be a third-tier Europe club competition, the victory of Chelsea over Betis meant so much to the Blues who have not smelt trophy of any kind since 1,202 days.

For the US-consortium that own Chelsea their ownership was tarnished by 1,201 days without a trophy but the moment captain Reece James lifted that trophy, the first in his captaincy, they earned valuable breathing room.

Todd Boehly was the first to go celebrate with the team after the trophy lift, followed reluctantly by influential Clearlake Capital duo Behdad Eghbali and Jose Feliciano.

The Boehly side and Clearlake side have not always seen eye-to-eye this season but this is a period of relative stability this season as the club decided they would stick with Maresca regardless of the result of their last two matches of the season.

Chelsea still went on to beat Nottingham Forest to qualify for the Champions League and won against Betis to add silverware.