Best games of the 2024/25 Conference League: Which was your favourite?

Lots of goals, lots of drama, lots of class – the 2024/25 UEFA Conference League has delivered on many fronts already, with finalists Real Betis and Chelsea showing their ability when it counted.

UEFA.com picks out ten of the best matches. Which was your favourite? Take a look at our picks and have your say!

Real Betis 1-4 Chelsea

"We should be proud of the way we played and the rest is football," said Manuel Pellegrini after his Betis side came up short in their first-ever European final, and if the scoreline was emphatic at the end, it was very much a game of two halves. In the first, Betis stifled Chelsea's attacks and scored early through the excellent Abdessamad Ezzalzouli.

The second half was a Chelsea onslaught, though, Cole Palmer setting up goals for Enzo Fernández and Nicolas Jackson to turn the game around before Jadon Sancho and Moises Caicedo added further strikes against a tiring Betis side. "[This] can be a starting point," said Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca. "To build a winning mentality you need to win games, to win competitions. The trophy we have won tonight is going to make us better."

Fiorentina 2-2 Real Betis (aet)

"It's not every day you score two goals in a semi-final, and yet I'm here, feeling sad, because I know it wasn't enough," said Fiorentina's Robin Gosens after this exhausting denouement. Trailing 2-1 from the first leg, the Viola went behind to a magnificent Antony free-kick, but two Gosens headers levelled the tie by the interval.

From then on it was tense. Aiming to reach a third successive Conference League final, Fiorentina struggled to carve out openings, and it took a magnificent double save from David de Gea to take it to extra time. However, Manuel Pellegrini's side were not to be denied, Antony laying on the tie-winner for Ezzalzouli. "I can only be happy," said exhausted Betis captain Isco at full-time.

SK Rapid 1-4 Djurgården (aet)

Having lost the round of 16 home leg 1-0, Djurgården had it all to do, but a seventh-minute red card and a 42nd-minute penalty levelled the tie up, only for the ten men to take the aggregate lead again just before the break. Japanese defender Keita Kosugi then delivered a magnificent long-range finish on 77 minutes to take it to extra time, where Tobias Gulliksen struck twice to earn the Swedish side a first-ever semi-final place.

"It was a great fight from Rapid – they saved the ball from the goal-line a couple of times," said Djurgården boss Jani Honkavaara graciously, acknowledging the home side's rearguard action. "One-nil down coming to Vienna is not easy; against this crowd also. I'm proud."

Vitória SC 0-4 Real Betis

"It's hard to react against a team like that," said Vitória SC boss Luís Freire after this bruising round of 16 second leg. Betis had been pegged back twice as they drew the home leg of this tie 2-2, and had reason for caution as they headed for the second leg, but they delivered a magnificent performance in Portugal.

Cédric Bakambu struck twice in the first 20 minutes, and they kept pushing; inspired loanee Antony hit a superb solo effort after the break before teeing up his captain, Isco, for the fourth. "From the first minute of this game we were fully focused," said Antony. "I am happy with the goal, the assist, but happier for getting through to the next round."

Lugano 5-4 Celje (aet, Celje win 3-1 on pens)

The Slovenian side won a tense first leg 1-0, but the return fixture was – as Celje's Mario Kvesić put it – "a crazy match". Lugano led 3-1 at the break, and then 4-2 with ten minutes to go, but a red card and Armandas Kučys' added-time penalty provided another twist. "It was the most important shot of my life," said the Lithuanian. "My heart was pounding." However, he picked the right side and took the game to extra time at 4-3.

Juanjo Nieto put the Slovenian champions ahead in extra time, but Ousmane Doumbia's 118th-minute finish took the game to penalties, where Lugano's composure failed them; they missed three of their first four spot kicks while Celje scored all three of theirs. "The players this season obviously want me to get grey hair," said Celje's Spanish coach Albert Riera.

Pafos 2-1 Omonoia

"This is a historic moment and we hope we can win," said Pafos boss Juan Carlos Carcedo ahead of the first leg of this knockout round play-off – the first-ever all-Cypriot UEFA club competition tie. On paper, it looked like no contest; Omonoia have won 21 titles and 16 Cypriot Cups, while last season's cup success was Pafos's first-ever honour. However, after a 1-1 draw away, Pafos seized a decisive advantage at home.

Pafos hit the post early on but scored the opener through Bruno in the 28th minute. Omonoia then hit the bar before Steven Jovetić stole away from his marker to fire them level. However, Pafos responded with the winner in quick time, Muamer Tankovic elegantly laying the ball off to Jonathan Silva, whose shot bobbled into the net despite the best efforts of the visiting defence.

Heidenheim 1-3 Copenhagen (aet)

"Sometimes the tough wins taste a little bit better," said Copenhagen's Thomas Delaney after his side rallied from a 2-1 home defeat in the first leg of their knockout round play-off to roll the German debutants out of the competition. Amin Chiakha's header cancelled out the deficit in the first half, and when Kevin Diks converted a 53rd-minute penalty, Jacob Neestrup's side were on their way to the last 16.

Well, not quite. Léo Scienza's terrific free-kick levelled the aggregate scores and set up an exhausting 30 minutes of extra time. On 114 minutes, Copenhagen launched a hopeful surge upfield which somehow ended with Rodrigo Huescas scoring the decisive goal in the tie. "The last part of the game became very tough for us," said Neestrup. "But we managed to fight through the last 30-35 minutes."

Molde 4-3 Mladá Boleslav

Molde confirmed their knockout phase play-off place in dramatic fashion, Halldor Stenevik's added-time finish the final word in a game of twists and turns. Mladá Boleslav took an early lead through Marek Suchý, but found themselves trailing at the break after Frederik Ihler's equaliser and a Tomáš Král own goal.

The visitors roared back to lead in the second half, Vasil Kušej levelling the scores in the 59th minute before Patrik Vydra's thunderous long-range strike found the top corner. Markus Kaasa then struck back to set up a grandstand finish before Stenevik showed composure at the back post to seal a crucial victory. "It's great to see the joy in the locker room afterwards," said interim coach Trond Strande. "You can see how much it means to them."

 Víkingur Reykjavík 3-1 Cercle Brugge

Víkingur came from a goal down to defeat Cercle Brugge and become the first Icelandic team to win a league phase or group stage game in a men's European competition. Their Belgian opponents started strongly, taking the lead through Kazeem Olaigbe, but the hosts overcame this early setback.

Ari Sigurpálsson curled in the equaliser barely a minute after Olaigbe’s opener before Víkingur missed a golden chance to take a lead into half-time – Danijel Djuric thumping the crossbar with his added-time penalty. The 21-year-old midfielder bounced back in the second half, finishing confidently at the back post before Gunnar Vatnhamar's header sealed the win. "We played out of their press and created chances, so we never doubted that another chance was going to come," said midfielder Gísli Gottskálk Thórdarson.

Cercle Brugge 6-2 St. Gallen

Togolese forward Kevin Denkey had a Conference League debut to remember, hitting a hat-trick and providing two assists to power Cercle Brugge to victory. The 23-year-old converted two tidy finishes and a confident penalty as the Belgian club stormed into a 4-0 lead, before a pair of ingenious goals from defender Gary Magnée cancelled out the visitors' two efforts and sealed an emphatic win for the Belgian side.

Denkey, who joined Cercle Brugge in 2021, was the top scorer in Belgian First League last season. The forward credited coach Miron Muslic's belief for his goalscoring form in recent seasons: "So much faith moves mountains."