Chelsea name 24-player squad for the UEFA Champions League. (imago Images)
Speaking to the official club website (h/t Mirror), Petr Cech has admitted it will be difficult for Chelsea to retain the UEFA Champions League. The club legend and advisor spoke about a lot of things needing to work Chelsea’s way but encouraged the Blues to keep going after the first win in the group stage.
Chelsea have started this edition of the Champions League as defending champs. Last season, they made it all the way to defeat Manchester City in the final and win their second crown. Not a lot of people might have fancied them to win it last season but this season, the Blues are one of the favourites to lift the crown.
The group stage has begun for Chelsea as they negotiated a tricky win over Zenit St. Petersburg. They will have to face Juventus and Malmo in the other games. Overall it should not be a tricky group to pass through. However, the real test starts next year when the knockouts begin. Other than Real Madrid, no other side has defender their Champions League crown.
Chelsea legend and currently, technical and performance advisor Petr Cech resonated the same opinion. He went on to speak about a lot of factors needing to come together.
“It is really difficult to retain the Champions League because you need an element of everything going right and you need to be lucky as well… When you come in as a champions, everybody has extra pressure and that adds to the complexity of the whole thing. You need everything to go right, no unlucky games or bad decisions.
Cech added that Chelsea need to keep up their performances and wants them to build from the good performance at Zenit.
“You are playing the best teams in Europe throughout the competition and everybody has the same motivation and quality to go through. That is what makes it so unique and so difficult but we started well with a good win against a tough opponent in Zenit St Petersburg so now we keep building from here.”
Chelsea will have expectations on them this season. They will have a lot more to prove this time than the last campaign. However, with a win to start off, Chelsea are heading in the right way. The next one is a solid encounter for the Blues as they take on Juventus in matchday two of the Champions League group pstages.
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