By John O’Leary
Despite all that they have accomplished lately, Chelsea Football Club continue to find themselves overlooked and underrated. They were never predicted to be a real contender in the UEFA Champions League when they won the tournament in 2012. Last season, when Sir Alex Ferguson was asked about Premier League title favorites, he never mentioned Chelsea FC.
He was instead going on about how Mauricio Pochettino has recently been the best coach in the league, and how the Argentine will lead Tottenham Hotspur to great things in the future. However, it was actually the newcomer Antonio Conte that claimed the league title in an emphatic manner.
It is a fresh season with many trophies to win, and people are once again not mentioning Chelsea FC when they talk Champions League contenders. However, one of the major reasons for success is belief in oneself. Whenever a team believes that something is achievable, they go all out for it.
Antonio Conte switched formations last year, and the players then discovered that the 3-4-3 gave them something other teams could not fathom. That was when they truly believed they could conquer the league, and they worked towards that goal. The pivotal moment for Chelsea in the 2012 Champions League occurred when they flipped a huge first leg defeat to Napoli. It gave Chelsea the feeling that they may actually have a chance, and they took it.
The defeat of Barcelona would later add more drive.
Fast-forward to 2017 and Chelsea FC has the potential for similar types of motivation again after dominating domestically last season. If you check football betting odds at OddsDigger, you will see that Chelsea is not listed amongst the favored potential UCL winners. However, as Eden Hazard said, this is the time to go out and win in Europe. It’s the type of talk that propels teams into serious actions. He made the statement earlier this season when he was pleading with Diego Costa to come back to the club so that they can do great things together.
He reiterated his belief that Chelsea have a great squad and a wonderful manager.
When players praise their managers and fellow players, then you know that belief is gradually building. Hazard talked about how happy they are to be back to the Champions League after missing out last year. For him, it’s always hard to watch Champions League on television instead of being on the pitch with a European contender. Of course, free football predictions aren’t giving Chelsea FC much a chance this time around, but when players talk like this, it could mean that the team has set their sites on winning in Europe. When a team as strong as Chelsea defines a target, it can be hard to stop them.
We saw this in their first match of the tournament against Qarabag. They dispatched the visitors by an eye-catching score of 6-0. It reiterated Chelsea’s mantra that every player can actually score. Currently, the squad newcomers are doing great, and the team overall looks very capable of Euro glory.
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