Chelsea captain Reece James believes that the blues now expect to win the Conference League after booking their place in the final of this month on Thursday.
The Enzo Maresca team will be confronted in Wroclaw on 28 May in Wroclaw after the goal of Kiernan Dewssbury-Hall earned a 1-0 win over the second leg over Djurgarden and achieved 5-1.
It is indeed the first European final of Chelsea since winning the Champions League 2020-21, in which Manchester City defeated 1-0 in the showpiece competition under Thomas Tuchel.
James is the only player within the current Blues team that was part of that success in Porto four years ago and would like to add more European silverware to his collection.
“We are happy. We are in a different final, but it is probably something we expected to come into play, and we also expect to win the competition,” said James.
“Winning the trophy would be a huge achievement. We are definitely going in the right direction.
“We will be knocking on the door of the Champions League next season, the table is tight and I have no doubt.
“We had a good result against Liverpool, and hopefully we can maintain the momentum and finish the season strongly.”
Chelsea gets a 60% chance of winning the competition, while Betis, who beat Fiorentina with 4-3 on aggregate, get a chance of winning from 40% by the OPTA-Supercomputer.
With Champions League football a priority for next season, Chelsea hit their pass at the perfect moment, with this victory their fifth consecutive in all competitions.
The blues are fifth in the Premier League, two points free of the chase package, but are confronted with Newcastle United, Manchester United and Nottingham Forest in their remaining competitions.
Maresca was happy that his side was able to do the job in the second stage at Stamford Bridge, but acknowledged that his team has a number of difficult matches.
“Very happy, the work is done tonight, and now we have almost 20 days to prepare for this final, and hopefully we can win this trophy,” Maresca told TNT Sports.
“We are in a good mood, a good series of results, but now we still have a game in less than 72 hours, so we have to concentrate on that.
“[Newcastle] Is a huge game. We still have three games and they are all important. “
It was also an impressive match for Dewsbury-Hall, which took the most important goal for the blues and brought his count to four in the competition this season.
He also ended the match with team -high Totals for created opportunities (three), shot on Doel (three) and passes in the last third (22).
“Great to be in the final,” said Dewsbury-Hall. “We set our sights at the start of the season to get as far as we can in this tournament.
“It's a long few months ago, but another game to go, and hopefully we can lift that trophy.
“It would mean anything. Many people would have said that we should do this at the start of the season, but I think if we do that, we will earn a lot of praise.
“I know what football is like, it's not easy. If we win it, I hope we can do, the players and the staff deserve a lot of praise.
“We have been busy from the first day of competition, we have been professional and dedicated, and now we still have a game.”