Old foes and his football father - why this is Maresca's final

Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca is facing an old friend and battling a former foe.

The Italian is genuinely delighted the Conference League final against Real Betis pits him against his 'football dad' Manuel Pellegrini, who first encouraged him to become a coach while playing for Malaga in 2011 and gave him his break among his coaching staff at West Ham seven years later.

With Pellegrini now in charge of Betis, Maresca watched the final 30 minutes of the Spanish side's semi-final win over Fiorentina after Chelsea had comfortably saw off Swedish club Djurgarden.

But while he has a friend and father figure in the opposing dugout, Maresca expects Betis supporters to boo him after excelling during his playing career at city rivals Sevilla.

There will also be tension of a different kind among the Chelsea support in Poland.

While ownership and sporting directors plan to evaluate Maresca after the end of the 2025-26 season, effectively giving him another year, winning a first trophy will be important to convince Blues fans of his worth.

That's why this is Maresca's final: one of emotion, joy and implications for his future.

"If I know how he thinks, he probably also knows how I think," said Maresca of the opposition boss. "So I don't think it gives us an advantage in this final."

This game is very much master versus apprentice.

In an interview while managing Manchester City's Under-21s in 2020, Maresca said: "Manuel was both the coach and the person who convinced me to try be a coach myself when I finished playing."

Maresca revealed the Chilean planted the seed when he was playing in midfield for Malaga that he could be a good coach one day.

It was in a season where Pellgrini guided Malaga from the relegation zone to fourth in La Liga to qualify for the Champions League, in a team which featured his current assistant Willy Caballero in goal.

To this day, Maresca is in touch with Pellegrini on a regular basis.

The Italian sent a "short message" to his mentor saying, "see you in the final" before the league phase started and they have been in touch multiple times this season, finally crossing paths again in Wroclaw as both teams conducted open training sessions.

When asked what one lesson he learned from Pellegrini, Maresca said: "I've learned many things from Manuel. But if I choose one, he taught me to treat my players as my sons. I have four sons, but I have 25 others in the dressing room.

"It is one of many things I have learned from him. We both know each other pretty well."

When asked if children must obey their father, Pellegrini added: "When children grow up, parents no longer have any authority. He learned from many people, he was also with Pep Guardiola. He will have and is already having a great career.

"It reflects his ability and the intention to study and learn that he always has."

Mentions of Guardiola show just how well Pellegrini knows Maresca.

Having also worked under Carlo Ancelotti and Marcello Lippi as a player at Juventus, he will know that one of Maresca's biggest inspirations was facing Guardiola's Barcelona team in 2008 while at Sevilla.

Ever since that day, the box-to-box midfielder knew what kind of coach he wanted to be. That's why he joined Guardiola's coaching staff in 2020.

Maresca says that educated him greatly. He managed the Under-23 side, briefly leaving for an ill-fated spell at Parma, before returning to become Guardiola's assistant.

He was influential in adding a tactical evolution, pushing for central defenders like John Stones, to play an inverted full-back role, stepping into midfield, rather than make overlapping runs, to help outnumber teams in the middle of the pitch.

That partnership of Guardiola and Maresca helped City to win a historic treble in 2023, before he joined Leicester to help lead them to the Championship title the following season.

Maresca was adored by fans of Betis' fierce rivals Sevilla and is very likely to be booed at the Wroclaw Stadium.

Nicknamed El Capo, 'The Boss' by Sevilla fans, he was a key midfield force as they won two Europa League trophies, a Uefa Super Cup and the Copa del Rey, before being pushed out of the club by former Tottenham manager Juande Ramos.

"I played four years for Sevilla, that is a big derby against Betis," Maresca added. "We also won the derby 1-0, and I scored a goal (an early penalty). I know that they don't like me, they don't love me.

"I met my wife in Seville, she's from Seville. My first son born in Seville. I played for Seville, but no doubt that I want to win the final."

Chelsea's fitness coach Marcos Alvarez is also from Seville and supports Betis, but spent the best part of his two decades long career with their rivals at Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium, where Maresca was still playing.

But Maresca insists he wants to win the final for Chelsea, not for Sevilla.

"All my focus is only on Chelsea," he said. "As for Betis, I think they have done really well, beating important teams in Spain. They are a dangerous team because of what the coach wants and the quality of the players they have."

Chelsea plan to keep Maresca regardless of the outcome of the final.

They have given him a five-year deal in a bid for stability, following a spell of hiring and firing managers since the Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital takeover in 2022.

The Blues have already drawn up transfer plans with Maresca staying in mind - putting a striker and right-footed left winger as their top priorities, with a central defender signing a potential extra option.

The club has also instructed the academy and even Ligue 1 club Strasbourg, also owned by BlueCo, to play a similar style of play to Maresca.

That will become the club's identity as they want players to seamlessly transition when promoted from academy to first team, or when moved between England and France.

Chelsea know they need to follow a similar model to Arsenal and Liverpool to be successful - admiring the respective rebuilds conducted by Mikel Arteta and Jurgen Klopp.

Winning Europe's third-tier competition, the only continental prize Chelsea have not claimed, it seen as a worthy next step on that path.

Maresca said: "The message in the last 48 hours has been, we did something important. But if we want to confirm that we are becoming an important club, we need to show the desire to win the title and to win the game.

"It's a final. And it's a game that we want to win at any cost. It was already a good season but it can become a very good season if we finish top four, top five, and if we are able to win the final.

"Chelsea can become the first club in Europe to win all the European competitions and because we continue to build the winner mentality."