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Chelsea’s Portuguese Head Coach Jose Mourinho (C) speaks with his coaching staff during a training session at the Sammy Ofer Stadium in the Israeli coastal city of Haifa.
DPA/London
If there’s a silver lining to Chelsea’s dismal Premier League season it’s that they haven’t carried the poor play into the Champions League.
The domestic title defense hasn’t gone as planned as Jose Mourinho’s side have lost seven of their 13 league matches.
They’re currently 14th in the table, just five points above the relegation zone.
The Blues ended a three-game losing streak by beating Norwich 1-0 on Saturday and though it wasn’t pretty, Gary Cahill hopes it provides a boost heading into today’s Champions League match at Maccabi Tel Aviv.
“It’s important that we do as well as we possibly can in Europe, given our slow start in the Premier League,” the defender said. “We are looking to push hard in Europe again now.”
Chelsea’s Champions League form has been the complete opposite of their domestic form. They sit second in Group G after four games with seven points, three fewer than leaders Porto.
The Blues trounced Maccabi 4-0 in their opening match in September and can progress to the knockout stage by winning in Tel Aviv and having third-place Dynamo Kiev lose in Porto.
Captain John Terry wants Saturday’s win to be the springboard in Europe.
“We have three points on the board now in the Premier League and switch focus to the Champions League again,” he told Chelsea TV.
“With that in mind and the importance of qualifying it’s all there for everyone to see and to go and do.” been there, done that
Chelsea can take solace in the fact they’ve been down this road before.
The Blues weren’t a factor in the league race during the 2011-2012 season but went on to win the Champions League for the only time in their history, beating Bayern Munich on their home field in a shoot-out.
Cahill remembers that fondly and realizes just how much it takes to lift the European Cup.
“That was the first season I came in and it was a difficult season because they were underachieving at that time as well and we way down in the league,” he said.
“We managed to go on and do an incredible thing, which was to win the Champions League.
“But you see from the history of the club that it’s very difficult to do that.
“We’re respectful of how hard it is to win the competition with what you have to go through. First and foremost we have to get out of the group.”
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