Reece James shows true colours as Chelsea captain heeds brutal advice before Real Betis clash

Reece James showed his true colours ahead of Chelsea's clash against Real Betis in the UEFA Conference League final. Despite losing his place in the starting lineup, at the Wroclaw Stadium.

During the warm-up, James was spotted working closely with Malo Gusto, who replaced him in Enzo Maresca's side. The Chelsea captain was in his teammate's ear, .

While James will have been disappointed to lose his place in the starting lineup, to ensure that the west London outfit are best prepared for the fixture. Speaking to reporters ahead of the Conference League final, the Cobham graduate discussed his development under Maresca.

"It’s definitely the best I’ve felt," James said. ". I’m so happy to be back on the pitch helping the team as much as I can regularly, and if I’m called upon, I’ll be ready."

Maresca appointed James as captain in the summer, and after a few months in his new role, . Speaking to reporters following the Blues' clash against Liverpool, he said: "He is on the way, he’s doing well, he’s progressing.

"But from Reece, ," added Maresca. "Most of the time when they are captain, they think that because they are captain, they have more, ‘because I am the captain, I expect that you give me more’.

"For me, because you are the captain, you have to give more. You have to give more than the rest. And sometimes it’s, ‘Okay, I am the captain, I can give less’, no.

"He’s one of the captains and I expected from him, and his teammates expected from him, to give always more in terms of leadership in general."

Maresca continued: "He is a reserved guy, but not only him. I think we don’t have a proper leader. We don’t have those guys. Probably Tosin [Adarabioyo] is one of the guys that is. So the rest we need to build them."

On how he's grown as a leader, James said: "I think one thing to remember is captains and leaders are made, they’re not born. I got given the role at such a young age, when I was going through a difficult period.

"I had a lot of injuries, I wasn’t on the pitch so much. So, it was definitely hard during my first season as captain. But I think I’ve grown so much in helping the team, the more I play."

On the Conference League final, James, who will be eager to lift his first trophy as Chelsea captain, said: "We hope [it starts a winning run].

"It’s been a few years since we got our hands on silverware, so if you zoom out and take a further look, I’d like to think this would bring that winning trophy feel back to the club and help the players who haven’t won so much in their career so far."