Essien eyes Champions League glory

Published: Fri Sep 10 2010, 8.51AM

Essien eyes Champions League glory

Ghana midfielder Michael Essien is adamant Chelsea can go on to crown last season's double success by winning the Champions League title at last.

Essien has returned to Chelsea's midfield after spending much of last season on the treatment table with a knee injury that eventually cost him a trip to the World Cup finals in South Africa.

Chelsea stormed to the Barclays Premier League title last season and then clinched their first-ever double with an FA Cup final victory over Portsmouth at Wembley.

Now Essien believes the Blues can add the Champions League crown to all the domestic silverware they have won.

Chelsea are confident of getting through their group which includes MSK Zilina, Spartak Moscow and Marseille.

"We have set our targets as high as we possibly can and the aim is to win every competition we enter," said Essien.

"We now have four trophies to go for and we are all focused on giving it 110%.

"You cannot ask for more than three games played, three wins with 14 goals scored and none conceded. That is the reason why I am excited about this season. The team has been together for the last four to five years and the understanding is getting better each year.

"We cannot get carried away and have to keep working hard to win everything. As a player you get the inner feeling that something big is around the corner and I feel the same way I felt last season when we won the double.

"However I am sure we can go one further and add the big one - the UEFA Champions League to our collection of trophies.

"Everyone knows how much winning that will mean to us. As a team we have won every domestic trophy and so it's only natural that we have the hunger for the European trophy.

"That is not to say we don't care about the Premier League, FA Cup or Carling Cup. We want to win every competition we enter this season and we will do all we can to win them all."

 

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