Cesar Azpilicueta rallies Chelsea stars to secure UCL qualification

According to the Daily Mail, Chelsea skipper Cesar Azpilicueta has urged his teammates to qualify for next season’s UEFA Champions League.

The Blues are within touching distance of doing so after opening up a five-point lead over our closest competitors. We are now closer to 3rd-placed Leicester City than 5th-placed Manchester United.

The Blues, however, had to go about it the hard way as we once again came from behind against Aston Villa. A quickfire second-half brace from Christian Pulisic and Olivier Giroud ensured that we came away from Villa Park with all three points.

The brain behind the comeback was our captain fantastic. Azpilicueta played a key role by providing both assists as he led from the front.

“Now it’s time to finish the job. It’s in our hands. It’s up to us to take it and finish where we want to finish.”

Our fate is in our own hands. The 30-year-old is aware of it and has called upon his teammates to take the chances when presented to them.

“The main focus is ourselves. We have it in our hands and we depend on us.”

With games coming thick and fast, the Chelsea players cannot afford any slip-ups. At times like these, momentum is important and we need to keep the good results coming in.

Rather than focus on retaining the fourth spot, we should be setting our aims ay usurping Leicester. The Foxes have dropped points of late and are ripe to be overtaken.

Azpilicueta is keen to take things game by game and finish as high up the table as possible.

“We are Chelsea and we want to finish as high as possible.”

Chelsea still have to play the second leg of the UCL round of 16 against Bayern Munich. With us trailing 3-0 from the first leg, it is going to be an uphill task to qualify.

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With a transfer ban in place and having lost Eden Hazard, Chelsea faced an uncertain future last summer.

Fast forward one year, not only are we improving but have also strengthened the squad considerably. With more to come, exciting times lay ahead at Stamford Bridge.