FC Copenhagen, Legia Warsaw and Djurgarden.

Chelsea's Conference League knockout opponents from this campaign hardly read like a who's who of European heavyweights.

But after securing Champions League qualification for 2025-26 on the final day of the Premier League season, beating Nottingham Forest 1-0 to finish fourth, the Blues have a chance to cap a successful first campaign under Enzo Maresca with silverware.

They face Real Betis in the second of this season's three major European finals on Wednesday, at the Tarczynski Arena in Wroclaw.

At stake for Chelsea is a piece of history, as they bid to become the first team to win four different major UEFA tournaments.

Manuel Pellegrini's Betis, meanwhile, are hunting a first European trophy, having seen off two-time Conference League runners-up Fiorentina in the last four.

Who will come out on top? We look ahead to Wednesday's Conference League showpiece game with our Opta-powered preview.

What's Expected?

The Opta supercomputer is backing Chelsea to lift the trophy, giving them a 51.1% chance of winning the final within 90 minutes.

Betis are assigned a 25.4% chance of victory, with 23.5% of simulations requiring extra time or penalties to crown a winner.

If Chelsea are to triumph, they will have to end Spanish teams' hoodoo over English clubs in finals.

Spanish sides have won each of their last nine major European finals against English opponents. The last Premier League team to win against a LaLiga side was Liverpool against Alaves, in the 2001 UEFA Cup (5-4).

Betis are playing in their first major European final. They are the 12th Spanish club to reach their maiden UEFA showpiece match and the first since Villarreal in 2020-21, who won the Europa League on penalties against Manchester United.

They have won just one of their eight meetings with English opponents in all competitions (one draw, six defeats), though that victory did come against Chelsea in the Champions League in 2005-06.

Chelsea, meanwhile, have lost three of their last four games against Spanish sides in UEFA competitions (one win), all against Real Madrid in the Champions League between 2022 and 2023. 

That is as many defeats as they suffered in their previous 29 against Spanish sides (11 wins, 15 draws, excluding the Super Cup).

Antony's redemption arc to end in glory?

When Antony – an £85million acquisition from Ajax in 2022 – left Manchester United to join Betis on a half-season loan deal in January, he departed Old Trafford to a chorus of derision.

In 17 European appearances for the Red Devils, the Brazilian managed just two goals and never laid on an assist.

In eight Conference League outings for Betis over the last four months, he has tallied up seven goal involvements, scoring four goals and assisting three.

"He has not surprised me because I knew him before from England," Pellegrini said of Antony's upturn.

"Also, when you buy a player for that amount of money it is not always because you made a mistake.

"Maybe there are some reasons why Antony could not play the way he knows at Manchester United, but that is another thing."

Antony also helped Betis finish sixth in LaLiga, meaning they will play Europa League football next season whatever the outcome on Wednesday, and having beaten Gent (3-1 on aggregate), Vitoria Guimaraes (6-2), Jagiellonia Bialystok (3-1) and Fiorentina (4-3) in the knockouts, they have arguably had a tougher route to this final than Chelsea.

This will be a first major European final for former Manchester City and Real Madrid boss Pellegrini, as he becomes just the second Chilean coach to reach one, after Fernando Riera with Benfica in the 1963 European Cup (lost 2-1 to AC Milan).

Los Verdiblancos are not travelling to Poland merely to make up the numbers, and Antony will surely relish the chance to show English audiences what he can do.

Chelsea rotation stops here

Chelsea were always expected to get this far in the Conference League, given the huge resources at their disposal, and they could even afford to leave Cole Palmer out of their league-phase squad in the first half of the season. 

But the Blues have taken the competition seriously and now have history within their sights. 

Having won the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (1971, 1998), the Champions League (2012, 2021) and the Europa League (2013, 2019), they could become the first team in history to win four different major UEFA tournaments (excluding the Super Cup).

Maresca's men have reached the final in eye-catching style, with their 38 goals in this edition of the Conference League already a single-season record for the competition, which was founded in 2021.

Chelsea have had 16 different scorers in the competition – more than any other team, while their 36 players used are also the most of any club.

They used the earlier rounds of this competition to rotate, but other than introducing Filip Jorgensen in place of Robert Sanchez between the sticks, Maresca is not expected to tinker on Wednesday.

Marc Guiu's six goals make him Chelsea's most prolific player in Europe this season, ahead of Christopher Nkunku on five goals. 

But with the former only just returning from injury and the latter likely to leave at the end of the campaign, Nicolas Jackson should return to lead the line after being suspended for Chelsea's final two Premier League games.

Maresca will hope to add his name to a long list of Chelsea managers to taste European glory in their debut seasons. The last seven Blues bosses to reach a major continental final (including Maresca) have now done so in their first campaign, with five of the previous six being victorious.

Gianluca Vialli won the 1997-98 Cup Winners' Cup, Roberto Di Matteo won the 2011-12 Champions League, Rafael Benitez won 2012-13 Europa League, Maurizio Sarri won the 2018-19 Europa League and Thomas Tuchel won the 2020-21 Champions League.

The only one of those six managers to lose their final was Avram Grant, in the 2007-08 Champions League.

PLAYERS TO WATCH 

Real Betis – Cedric Bakambu 

Antony is not the only player Chelsea will need to keep close tabs on, as only Afimico Pululu (eight) has bettered Bakambu's seven Conference League goals this term. 

Bakambu also has two assists in his nine outings, with only Celje midfielder Svit Seslar (10) having more goal involvements in this edition.

At 34, Bakambu is unlikely to be on the list of many major clubs as they look to bolster their striker ranks over the summer, but him going slightly under the radar should not take away from what a fantastic campaign he has had in this competition this season.

Chelsea – Enzo Fernandez

Only Seslar (eight) has more assists in the Conference League this season than Chelsea midfielder Fernandez (five), despite the Argentine playing just 251 minutes. 

Of all players to have played 250 minutes in the competition this term, Fernandez has the best minutes per goal or assist rate (one every 42).  

Fernandez has experience of helping his country to major honours, but this is the 24-year-old's first chance to lift a trophy with the Blues.