After last season’s demolishing of the Premier League by Chelsea, the Champions League will return to Stamford Bridge.
Antonio Conte’s side were not involved in the Champions League at all last season. They were also miles away from Europa League qualification after their 10th place league finish. But the Blues will be involved this season, and they will hope to emulate their form from the not too distant past when they won a Champions League and Europa League in two seasons.This season’s Europa League favourites are AC Milan at 6/1 with Real Madrid as usual favourites for the Champions League.
There have been many question marks placed on Conte’s side this season already. Chelsea have allowed various stars to leave the club this summer either on loan or as part of a permanent transfer, and more look set to follow. Last season’s top scorer, Diego Costa has threatened to go on strike for a year if he is not allowed to leave the club to rejoin Atletico Madrid.
The club’s dealings this summer has warranted criticism from many, who believe the Blues’ squad looks thin and incapable of challenging in competitions and defending their Premier League crown. Despite bringing in four new signings this window, Conte is said to want be frustrated at how the transfer window is panning out, demanding further additions.
Knowing Mr Abramovich, Antonio Conte will make a few more purchases in the market before August 31st and you would think the Blues will have a pretty good chance to go far in this season’s Champion’s League competition. Should Conte’s squad flounder and not handle their Champions League group draw and fall into the second tier of European competition – the Europa League which they won under Rafa Benitez in 2013 – Chelsea are currently 5/1 second favourites in the Europa League betting.
Speaking about Chelsea’s chances of glory in the Champion’s League last season, Conte said: “I am excited to play in the Champions League with Chelsea, but I know we have a lot of road ahead before we can compete to try to win the Champions League.”
“We are trying to rebuild a situation and it’s not easy. You need a bit of time to create a structure and to build every season and then to go to fight.”
The Italian has two previous Champion’s League managerial experiences, both with Juventus. In his first season, Juventus were eliminated by eventual winners Bayern Munich in the Quarter Finals – a round he will hope to improve on with Chelsea this season.
But Conte is certainly keeping his feet firmly on the ground, and suggests it will be difficult for his side to repeat the success that the club had in 2012, with the majority of the players in that squad having left.
“I remember 2012. Chelsea won with the penalties. They lost a Champions League with the penalties(2008) and they won a Champions League with the penalties.” said Conte.
“I think now we are in another era, another period for Chelsea. We must have patience and try to rebuild something important.”
“We started this season with only 11 players and now we bought (Tiemoue) Bakayoko, (Antonio) Rudiger, (Alvaro) Morata and (Willy) Caballero. But we lost maybe, if you compare the last season, many players and we have to rebuild the situation. We must know that we have to work very hard to rebuild the situation.”
Chelsea are a feared side among Europe, and despite Conte’s attempts to play down his sides chances of glory which is presumably to take some pressure off, there will still be a belief that they can go for glory in the competition. David Luiz will remember that night in 2012 also, and when speaking to Metro, the Brazilian was full of confidence that his team can go on and win if they keep injury troubles at bay.
It will be interesting to see if any of the Champions Leagues clubs from UK football will do much with high hopes on Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool and Spurs, as well as a decent level of expectation on Everton and of course much is expected of Arsenal in the Europa League.