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The Spanish defender believes his side should always be competing in Europe’s top competition
Cesar Azpilicueta says Chelsea belong in the Champions League after they booked their spot in the knockout rounds courtesy of a 2-1 win over Lille on Tuesday.
Needing a win to progress, the Blues started brightly netting twice in the first half via Tammy Abraham and Azpilicueta.
Former Chelsea striker Loic Remy grabbed a goal back for Lille in the 78th minute as Frank Lampard’s side were forced to hold on for a precious three points.
After winning the Europa League last season, Azpilicueta declared the Blues are back where they belong as they continue their Champions League quest.
“Champions League is where Chelsea belong,” Azpilicueta told BT Sport. “We know it was a tough group – last year’s semi-finalists Ajax have been knocked out.
“We had to fight and recover after losing against Valencia at home in our first game. But now we are in the last 16 the focus has to switch back to the Premier League until the competition starts again next year.”
The Stamford Bridge side are currently fourth in the Premier League after a surprise 3-1 loss to Everton at the weekend.
Lampard’s side have managed to bounce back, however, with Abraham looking forward to more Champions League action in 2020.
“I’m very excited to be in the next round,” he said. “We came into the match needing to win and thankfully we did. Now I can’t wait for the next round.”
Abraham’s hot form in front of goal continued on Tuesday as he opened the scoring, bagging his second Champions League goal and 13th of the season.
“It’s just about getting into the box. Luckily for me I was in the right place at the right time,” he said.
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“For us it is about sticking with it. We started so well, sometimes we just need to kill off games and to do that we need to score more goals.”
Chelsea next face Bournemouth in the league on Saturday with only five points separating them from fifth-placed Manchester United.
After that, they travel to Tottenham where they come up against former manager Jose Mourinho for the first time since he took over at their London rivals.
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