Nemanja Matic: Why Chelsea can win the Champions League again

“I didn’t win with Chelsea but I felt super happy with the title, I was not more happy because I lost that semi-final with Real Madrid to Bayern Munich on penalties, when Cristiano [Ronaldo] and Sergio Ramos missed the first and the second penalty”, he said.

The Premier League will not give leading clubs special help with their fixtures next year despite moving some matches to a Friday and their “concern” that declining Europe performances will mean losing a Champions League place. He then went on to win a historic treble with Inter in Italy and a La Liga title and Copa del Rey with Real Madrid before returning in 2013 and winning the Premier League title last term.

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“We are ready for the next season and I hope we start well with a trophy and we will try to show our quality in the first game”. We are ready to compete with everyone.

“Our players can compete with all the big stars”. That’s why they are Chelsea players. But the Premier League will not budge, even though it is anxious England will lose a Champions League spot if the decline continues.

‘We used these days very well. We are ready to compete.

‘We know what we have to expect.

“When I’m asked about Champions League, I think Chelsea is the best example of what the Champions League is”, he added.

“The entire fixture calendar in the UK is predicated upon clubs having a three-day gap, so you can’t bring games forward to a Friday”.

‘We’ve trained hard but we needed that as we had one month free.

Richard Scudamore, the Premier League executive chairman, admitted that he was concerned by the recent European results but believes that his organisation, which has consistently delivered huge revenues to the clubs via their broadcast deals, is powerless to improve results.

“The lady is a bit confused”, Mourinho said. “People don’t care that English teams are struggling in Europe?”