The Frenchman is one of those in the squad yet to get his hands on a winner’s medal during his short career so far, with his only previous appearance in a final coming in last season’s League Cup defeat to Liverpool.

However, he has another chance to lift the first trophy of his career in Poland, where we will face Real Betis in the UEFA Conference League final on Wednesday evening.

‘I’m excited,’ said Gusto. ‘I’m very happy to be able to play in this final. It will be important for the club to win this trophy.

‘It’s something new for me but I came here to play this kind of game. We’re ready - I’m ready - to play this final and to do my best to win it.’

Of course, Malo is still relatively early in his career, having only celebrated his 22nd birthday earlier this month. That seems par for the course in this Blues side, though, which broke the record for the youngest team in Premier League history in 2024/25.

Not that our flying full-back considers that young age - and what is sometimes perceived to be a lack of experience - to be a problem, given the talent available to Enzo Maresca. In fact, he even sees one advantage to having a squad of similar age.

He added: 'Everyone knows this Chelsea team is very young but we have a lot of qualities. We are young but most of the guys in the team are mature, so it doesn’t matter how young we are.

‘It just matters to be good on the pitch, to put our qualities for the collective and play to the best of our ability.

‘Because we are all young we understand each other easily and that helps us a lot to be on the same page and to follow the same path.’

Chelsea will need all that talent and maturity to overcome our Spanish opposition and get our hands on the Conference League trophy, which would sit proudly alongside the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League and UEFA Super Cup in our cabinet, making us the first club to complete the set of all four pieces of current European silverware.

‘We knew this competition is not that easy. Some people think it is, but it definitely isn’t,’ Gusto continued.

‘Every game is tough, and even more so this final. So it will be important for us as a team to be ready and not be surprised in the game.

‘We more have to care about ourselves. Betis are a good team but we are a good team as well, so I think we got to this final to win it. It doesn’t matter if it’s against Betis or anyone else.

‘It’s important for us to win this trophy as players, for the club and the fans as well. It’s an opportunity to win it and win all the European trophies. So we’re very happy to be in this final.’